National Skills Week Breakfast - Canberra

Acknowledgements omitted

Thank you, Brian, and everyone at SkillsOne for bringing us together.

It’s a pleasure to join so many people who help Australians gain skills, build careers and find new opportunities.

National Skills Week celebrates achievement and helps more people see where vocational education and training can take them.

This year’s theme is simple but profound: “Life Changing”.

That is exactly what enabling Australians to get the right skills, at the right time, in the right way is.

There is no single VET journey.

It might begin in a classroom, a workshop or on the job, and it might lead into a trade, health care or another field that relies on practical skills.

It might lead on to further education and training too – at TAFE or elsewhere in the sector.

For a school leaver, an apprenticeship can open the door to meaningful work.

For someone already in the workforce, vocational training leads to a new career.

If an Australian is looking for a surefire way to get the skills they need to secure work, they don’t need to look any further than a TAFE qualification.

And for those returning to study later in life, VET can offer a fresh start.

All these pathways connect learning to the real world.

They give people the chance to learn from experienced teachers and trainers, apply their skills in practice, and build confidence in their abilities. 

These benefits reach well beyond the individual.

Every step forward by an Australian in their training journey is also a step forward for their workplace – or their future workplace – as well as their industry and community.

Individual success is our collective success too.

Employers want and need workers who gain and grow their skills. 

As Jobs and Skills Australia have identified, 88 per cent of VET graduates were employed after completing their qualification, a 16-percentage point increase from before they enrolled.

Those outcomes depend on the quality of the training and the connections it creates to the workplace.

They rely on skilled teachers and trainers, employers willing to invest in people, and courses that respond to what industries and communities need.

That is why the work represented in this room matters.

Here in Canberra at the moment I know there are important conversations going on about the tertiary sector – in particular, the futures of the Canberra Institute of Technology and the University of Canberra.

This is an important conversation.

A more joined-up tertiary system isn’t just a priority of the Albanese Labor Government – it’s fundamental to parity of esteem.

For too long, we have treated university and TAFE as distant tiers of education, but we can’t think like this.

We mustn’t.

Australia, and Australians, need a more connected system that puts learners first, values TAFE and university equally, and supports the lifelong learning that a modern economy increasingly demands.

Anchored by a strong, modern and sustainable public VET system.

That is why tertiary harmonisation matters. 

When the critical parts of our system come together, learners gain skills they can put to use, employers gain the capability to grow and adapt, and communities gain the services they depend on.

Lifelong learning becomes a reality, not an aspiration.

Through Free TAFE, the Albanese Government is working with states and territories to remove cost barriers and help Australians train in areas where skills are needed.

We are also backing apprentices in clean energy and housing construction, and supporting nursing students through Commonwealth Paid Prac.

People need support to start training, stay with it and turn learning into a lasting career.

That includes Australians strengthening their language, literacy, numeracy or digital skills, through initiatives like our Government’s Skills for Education and Employment program.

This is how we build an accessible, high-quality and responsive VET system.

That support is helping build real momentum across TAFE.

More Australians are gaining practical skills, moving into work and building careers in areas where their contribution is needed.

And this is not a short-term effort.

Free TAFE is now an enduring part of Australia’s skills system, creating pathways for adult learners across the country.

Each and every qualification giving another Australian the chance to build their skills, create opportunities and secure a great new career.

And the momentum from here will only grow.

The beauty of a VET qualification too is its diversity.

It truly is life changing.

It’s the key to a great career – with immediate off-ramps into employment

It’s the front door to the tertiary education sector more broadly.

This is a message I’ll continue sharing as Minister – and I hope you will too.

So as we launch National Skills Week, let’s keep showing Australians what VET can make possible.

The right skills can change a life. And each time that happens, our workplaces, communities and country are stronger for it.

I wish everyone involved a successful National Skills Week.

Thank you.