Press Conference, Tasmania

ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Good morning everyone, or good afternoon as it just is. I want to recognise that today is World Teachers' Day, So it's a really appropriate day to be talking about the next step in the partnership between the Albanese Government and the Rockliff Government when it comes to building the skills of Tasmanians so that more Tasmanians can get skills they want to do the jobs we need.

I'm pleased to be here with Minister Ellis from the Rockliff Government and I'll have a bit to say in a minute about today's announcement, which is an agreement to invest $25.8 million in a range of things under the National Skills Agreement.

Now, this investment will help young apprentices, like the ones here at Tasmanian Group Training to get more support through their apprenticeship. And I touched on the fact that it's World Teachers' Day and I'm thinking about all the trainers, all the teachers at TasTAFE and in group training organisations like this who are so fundamentally important to ensuring that the next generation of tradespeople get through that apprenticeship from start to finish.

That's what this announcement's all about. It's about an investment in our training workforce, people like Daniel who we've just been talking to today, who probably can't help me very much but is doing great work with these four young apprentices. It's about investment in improving completions, recognising that while an organisation like this one might have an 80 per cent completion rate, across Tasmania and across Australia the rates are really only just over half of those who start. So we know we've got to do better, not just to encourage more Tasmanians to get into the trades, but to support them to finish them.

There's a particular focus here on Aboriginal Tasmanians too. Some additional money invested there to make sure that more First Nations people get more opportunities to get into the trades and supported them.

And the last element is an investment that the Albanese Government is making in foundational skills, recognising that more Tasmanians need more help to get all the skills they want to succeed in getting a trade and getting their way through working life.

So it's a really significant announcement. It's great to be back in Hobart today with Minister Ellis talking about it and recognising that this is part of a really big story. Because we want to work together to make sure that every Tasmanian gets every support to get a great set of skills, particularly through an apprenticeship, to build a great career.

Today we're talking about a commitment of over $25 million jointly between the two governments. This builds on a national investment in skilling Tasmanians. We're investing more than $275 million in skills for Tasmanians under the National Skills Agreement because this is fundamentally important.

And I'll hand over to Felix to say a little bit more.

FELIX ELLIS, TASMANIAN MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND JOBS: Thanks Andrew. Here in Tasmania, we know that you don't need to go to university to have great opportunities in life. What we want to do is make sure that if you do secure an apprenticeship or traineeship, that you're seeing it through, that you get your tickets, that you do your time, and then you come out fully qualified. In Tasmania, we have the highest rate of completions for apprentices and trainees in the nation, but this investment will help to supercharge those efforts.

We have some extraordinary training organisations that do such powerful mentoring work, working with young apprentices so that they can get through their time, but really do so at best practice rather than just minimum standard. TasBGAS is one of those groups delivering more than 80 per cent completion rates, far above the Tasmanian average and even further above the national average.

So our investment into skills through this joint partnership with the Federal Government will be about providing stronger pathways and better mentoring for our apprentices and trainees who are coming through. So much needs to go right to help a young person through the four years of their learning journey if they're doing an apprenticeship, and it's made so much easier when there's someone walking the journey beside you, mentoring you and making sure that you've got the supports that you need from day one to the day that you complete.

There's also additional investments that we're making so that we can take into account some of the particular barriers that some of our learners might have. For Tasmanians that are struggling with literacy and numeracy, we know that those skills are key when you're building a house or manufacturing some of the incredible products that we make here in Tasmania. So investing with 26Ten in a workforce partnership so that we can help people to upskill. We want to support our learners to succeed, that's part of our skills plan and by investing in the foundation skills that they need to complete their time and to be an outstanding tradesperson really will make such a big difference.

And also, we're really committed to making sure that we're investing to close the gap, that kind of practical reconciliation that can help support Aboriginal learners, improve their life chances and make a really huge contribution to our economy and to their families as well. And so, we'll be investing with Aboriginal Controlled Organisations to boost their capability in training as registered training organisations.

It's so important because ensuring that Aboriginal people in Tasmania have the opportunities as other Tasmanians is critical for people's future. We want to make sure that we're not missing out on any of the outstanding tradespeople that could be coming through the system, and breaking down those barriers whether it's literacy, whether it's your background and circumstance is so important. And providing clearer pathways for our young people will make a big difference.

So we're really pleased to be working closely with the Federal Government. It's a great partnership that we have in skills and we're looking forward to building the workforce that helps to build Tasmania.

With that I'll throw to you David, do you want to add a few remarks?

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DAVID FAGAN, CEO, TasBGAS: I can, absolutely.

JOURNALIST: I guess, from your perspective, just how critical is this funding right now?

FAGAN: Well, this funding is really important because that’s another investment to the state, another investment to our apprentices. This is about the future workforce requirements for what we need in Tasmania within the building and construction industry, so we couldn't be more happy around level of investment and the work that's ahead to do that.

JOURNALIST: And in terms of Tasmanians completing courses, do you have a rough idea of where we sit in terms of the percentage? I know the Minister, Minister Ellis, said we're the best in the country. Do you have a figure for that?

FAGAN: No, I don't have a specific figure but my understanding is exactly the same as Mr Ellis' that Tasmania does perform above the rest of the country in terms of its area, and we want to continue to do this. So, investment will certainly help us do that.

JOURNALIST: And we'll hear from them after but, I guess, what are you hearing from young tradies about this investment?

FAGAN: Well, they'll be really excited by it, there's no doubt about that. Every big investment that comes into the industry is important. There's a lot of work that goes into apprenticeships, both by the employers, by the training organisations that do that, and also the parents and the work that goes into that. So, all that investment we want to see pay off, so more mentoring, support, more services along those lines will go a long way to achieving it.

JOURNALIST: Do you think this funding will be enough long term to support the workforce, or do you think more will need to be done?

FAGAN: Well, the proof will be in the pudding I guess in terms of- but if we develop the projects in the right way, we’ll put the right systems and procedures in place, and the right level of support, then this will have a significant impact not just for the short term but the learnings that come from that help us in the long term as well. So, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Any investment’s a good investment. It’s what we do with it that matters, so the next few steps will be the important ones.

JOURNALIST: Anything else you want to add?

FAGAN: No, it’s fine. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Might get Minister Ellis up, if that’s okay.

Minister, of the $25 million, how much is the state government chipping in?

ELLIS: Yeah, so we're delivering $11.9 million as part of this package, so it's roughly 50/50. We think we've got a slightly better deal out of Canberra than we'd hoped, which is wonderful. We really appreciate their support, but it's part of our significant investment that we're making right across the skills sector because we know it's so important that we uplift Tasmanians skills and training so that we can help to grow our economy and provide great opportunities for people.

JOUNRALIST: And the same question, do you think this funding will go lengths long term to support the workforce here or do you think once traders complete their courses that they might still go to the mainland for better pay?

ELLIS: Well look, there's always more that we can do but we know that if a young person is able to complete their apprenticeship that is a life-changing opportunity and many of us have been through the journey. I mean, I know personally I probably wouldn't have completed my apprenticeship if it wasn't for the amazing support that I received through the group training organisation that I was part of, and that's a common story. A lot of young people, there's a lot of different influences in life, and four years is a big commitment when you're young. But we want to help our tradies stick with it, and when they do they often have amazing opportunities and can really get great incomes, help to build businesses and build our state.

JOURNALIST: Do you have a rough idea of how many workers we need over the next five years to decade to build that pipeline?

ELLIS: It depends on the sector but we need tens of thousands. It's part of the reason why particularly in the case of construction we're also delivering top of this the High-Vis Army program which is really about working closely with industry to help address their workforce and training needs. We know that when we empower industry they're often best placed to deliver the kind of skills and support that people need.

Another element of this package that we are delivering is actually boosting the VET workforce. We know that some of the critical people in the journey of an apprentice is their teacher and their trainer. If we can help industry provide the people that we need for our learners to succeed, then that will be the best outcome for our state. So helping to get some of our best tradies going from just working on the tools to working in training and perhaps a hybrid of both is the kind of outcome that we want to see through these programs.

JOURNALIST: And what sector is, I guess, falling short most in terms of workers?

ELLIS: Well construction is a huge area of growth and need. It's also one of our biggest workforces. Another key area, slightly not as related to this space, is healthcare. Healthcare is our largest workforce that we have in Tasmania. It's also one of our largest VET workforce cohorts or VET training cohorts. And so backing in those key areas of need, like construction, care, agriculture, energy, and a range of others, is really important. And that's why investing in skills will make such a big difference.

JOURNALIST: Thank you. Minister Giles, can I get you up again?

So the $25 million will be, I guess, separated into the four initiatives. Could you briefly just break down- you've touched that there'll be an Aboriginal focus. Could you break down those four areas?

GILES: So there's $4 million for those Closing the Gap initiatives and really Minister Ellis set it out well. We want to make sure that we are closing the gap when it comes to skills attainment as well as obviously in employment because we know it's important in its own right. It's also important to send that signal that we've got to break down every barrier that's holding back everyone in the community from getting the job they want. So community controlled organisations having a critical role to deliver cultural safe training to open more doors for more Tasmanians who identify as Aboriginal.

Now if you look at the next bit, it's about VET workforce and again, World Teachers Day, we don't have good tradespeople without fantastic trades teachers and trainers. So finding more ways to incentivise people to perhaps come off the tools part time, to find more ways to be supported in their teaching journey, absolutely fundamental. The biggest chunk of money is really about improving completions and we touched a bit on that earlier because of course we want more people to think about a trades pathway, to think about a role that they can have in building homes, in rewiring the nation, in being part of caring for the youngest or the oldest Tasmanians, or building the world's biggest electric ship, as I saw just down the road at Incat earlier.

So we want more people to think about taking that first step. But we understand that an apprenticeship's a long time, and particularly for a young person, a lot happens over four years of your life. So to make sure that people get all the support they need, whether it’s about mentoring, whether it's maybe some additional support with some of the technical aspect of the trade, particularly in a trade like electrical that is quite technical, just making sure that we are not wasting any potential.

Again, an apprenticeship is a really big commitment for the individual and for their employer. It's never going to be a hundred per cent completion rates, we've got to do better. And this is all about doing better and supporting those projects that are working. And the last element is about supporting people with those foundational skills because we know that right around the country, but particularly in Tasmania there are people who really do struggle with some of those traditional elements of literacy and numeracy, but increasingly also with their digital skills, because we know a lot of people are commencing an apprenticeship later in life. So making sure that people don't feel the stigma, they can get support just to make sure that they are confident in doing every aspect of the learning part of their apprenticeship journey. So it's those four elements that we've got here that I think are going to make a really big difference.

JOURNALIST: The Tasmanian Government recently cut TAFE courses in the media and arts area. Would the Federal Government at all chip in to fill those shortfalls?

GILES: Well look, firstly, I should make it clear that I don't run TasTAFE. From the federal government's perspective, there's a couple of things that I would say. Firstly, we're really focused on two things when it comes to our relationship with the states when it comes to TAFE. The first one is building on the National Skills Agreement, doing the sort of things we were talking about here, working together to deliver those objectives that are shared. Now, we don't agree on everything. You'd be surprised to hear between the Albanese Labor Government and the Rockliff Liberal Government. But there are plenty of things that we do agree on, including making sure that more Tasmanians get more opportunities to build skills, announcements like today. The second way we go about it is through supporting Free TAFE which we legislated to make permanent. And I look forward to sitting down around the table with Felix in a little while and talking about how we're going to deliver those free TAFE courses to make sure they meet the needs of the Tasmanian community. So that’s my focus when it comes to these questions.

ENDS