TAFE Directors Australia Convention Brisbane

It’s a real pleasure to be with you here in Brisbane for this year’s TAFE Directors Australia Convention.

Today is about recognising what you do – every day – through TAFE and across the VET sector.

It’s about what comes next – how we keep working together to set the VET sector up for the future.

In particular, how we continue to put TAFE right at the centre of that work – where it belongs.

Because when we get skills and training right, more Australians can get the training they need – and the opportunities that flow from it.

Nothing in this sector happens in isolation.

So I want to put on record how much I value the engagement I have with you – through TDA, through your institutions, and through the partnerships we share.

Our commitment to tripartism means that partnerships sit at the centre of our approach to skills and training.

Partnerships grounded in respect – and in listening.

Partnerships that start from a simple truth: none of us have all the answers.

And partnerships that welcome strong, practical advice – especially when it challenges us.

I know I’m speaking to people who understand the value of TAFE – and the foundational role it plays in achieving our national goals.

Through the delivery of VET, TAFE is playing a critical role in driving productivity. 

Building a skilled and adaptable workforce was a key topic discussed at the Economic Reform Roundtable in August last year. 

Of course, measuring the worth of TAFE goes so much further than the dollar value it adds to Australia’s gross domestic product. 

They are powerful engines of inclusion, opportunity and economic equality.

Their geographical spread matches the diversity of their offerings.

Since our Government was elected in 2022, TDA has been one of our most steadfast partners in the work we have done.

This convention is another opportunity for our Government to hear your feedback and get direct insights into what you are seeing on the ground.

It’s important that we keep hearing that feedback – especially as we approach the halfway mark of the National Skills Agreement.

The lynchpin of our efforts in the sector: the NSA was the first agreement between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments on skills and training in more than a decade.

It is an agreement to build a skills system fit for the future, and, as it said on page one, “a diverse VET system with TAFE at its heart”.

The National Skills Agreement also sets out a stewardship model for governance and planning.

At its core, it’s a partnership model, ensuring we stay focused on what works and keep improving it.

Through the NSA, we’re delivering on eight national priorities – including sustaining essential care services, delivering housing supply, building our digital capability, and Closing the Gap.

That’s the point: VET doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s woven through almost everything we’re trying to achieve as a nation.

As is Free TAFE.

I regard as one of our Government’s landmark achievements the work we have done in supporting 742,000 enrolments nationally through Free TAFE, together with our state and territory counterparts.

And so far announcing 18 TAFE Centres of Excellence across all state and territories – though later today I’m pleased to say that will become 19 TAFE Centres of Excellence.

These centres are delivering training in areas of critical need.

This includes clean energy, essential health care and support, digital and technology skills, housing construction, and manufacturing. 

For students across Queensland: the Clean Energy Batteries TAFE Centre of Excellence, with training underway in Toowoomba and here in Brisbane, as well as the Health Care and Support TAFE Centre of Excellence.

At their core, the centres are built on strong partnerships – with universities, industry, unions, Jobs and Skills Councils, and other TAFEs.

You’ll hear much more about their impact and ambition in the breakout sessions running across the Convention.

That same partnership approach underpins our 10 Jobs and Skills Councils, established throughout 2023.

They are driving workforce planning, training packages and qualifications reform: modernising the system while preserving what works.

The result is greater flexibility, so qualifications can respond faster to industry needs and better serve learners.

Reform, of course, doesn’t succeed on structure alone – it succeeds through collaboration.

The National TAFE Network represents the pinnacle of our efforts to leverage cooperation across the skills and training sector. 

I would like to thank TDA for the pivotal part that it plays hosting and operating the National TAFE Network Coordination Hub.

The network has four goals:

• advancing teaching and learning excellence
• building effective networks and communities of practice
• fostering innovation and applied research
• building TAFE workforce capability.

Overall – driving collaboration among TAFE teachers and administrators, developing shared curriculum and course materials, piloting innovative teaching practices, and creating communities of practice to support the TAFE workforce.

TAFE’s teachers, administrators and support staff are critical to the success of the sector. 

Our TAFE colleges are built on their collective guidance and leadership. 

We must ensure we have a sustainable VET workforce pipeline if we are to continue to deliver high quality learning.

That’s why our Government, in collaboration with the states and territories, released the VET Workforce Blueprint. 

A roadmap to build, grow and support the VET workforce.

Under the blueprint, measures to strengthen the workforce include occupational mapping and a national data strategy.

We are also building the First Nations VET workforce and the VET workforces for the electrical and construction industries. 

You’ll be familiar with the idea of parity of esteem. 

Put simply: skills gained through TAFE are not second best.

This understanding goes to the heart of what we’re trying to build: a joined up tertiary education system, that supports lifelong learning.

One that is essential to achieving our goal of 80 per cent of the workforce holding a Certificate III or above by 2050.

For students, it means choice based on the value of the course; not the label on the institution.

It means clearer pathways, easier movement between TAFE and university, and real recognition of prior learning.

And it means stronger cooperation, and coordination.

The Australian Tertiary Education Commission is leading this work, including through the development of a tertiary roadmap aligned to Australia’s future skills needs.

To drive collaboration, ATEC will be able to allocate additional university places where degrees are shortened for students who already hold a relevant TAFE qualification. 

Let me turn now to course accreditation – a practical example of how we are lifting responsiveness while maintaining quality.

As you know, between December 2024 and June 2025, ASQA ran a delegated course accreditation pilot with three providers – Bendigo Kangan Institute, TAFE NSW and Central Queensland University.

That pilot demonstrated that, when applied in a targeted and risk based way, delegated accreditation can deliver real value – supporting industry responsiveness while preserving confidence in the national training system.

I am pleased to announce that ASQA is now progressing to the next phase of course accreditation delegation. 

The conversation has started and an updated expression of interest is underway.

This next phase builds on the pilot’s success and will test how delegated accreditation can operate at scale in a practical, risk based way.

For TAFEs, this means faster responses to local and industry skill needs, stronger internal capability through hands on accreditation experience, and a pathway to more streamlined regulation: where risk is low and quality is high.

Greater responsibility in accreditation rests on institutions actively developing expert capability in this space.

Ultimately, this work is about more than systems and processes.

It’s about expanding opportunity, including through our commitment to Closing the Gap.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister said his Government’s approach to Closing the Gap begins with the building blocks of a good life.

One of the most important building blocks is economic empowerment through education and training. 

Closing the Gap is the essence of partnerships. 

Walking with First Nations communities to expand horizons through universities and TAFE.

Closing the Gap is about how we can support institutions such as TAFE colleges.

To make them more culturally safe.

To be more responsive to the needs and aspirations of First Nations people. 

Along with women, young Australians and people with disability, First Nations people are embracing opportunity through Free TAFE.

There have been more than 45,000 Free TAFE enrolments by First Nations people.

Ensuring people can access education is essential, but ensuring they can keep learning as the world changes is just as critical.

With an ageing population, the shift to net zero, and the rise of artificial intelligence, change isn’t coming – it’s already here. And that makes lifelong learning more important than ever.

Jobs and Skills Australia has just released a working paper mapping the trends shaping Australia’s future skills needs. 

Its conclusion is clear: lifelong learning is no longer optional.

The paper notes that individual workers and businesses may be unable to avoid the profound forces reshaping our economy. 

But lifelong learners, and the businesses they work in, will be far better positioned to shape their own futures and navigate that change.

Jobs and Skills Australia was the Albanese Government’s first piece of legislation in 2022. 

It provides independent advice on our current and future skills and workforce needs. 

And its latest analysis shows just how quickly the ground is shifting.

The pace of skill change accelerated across most jobs between 2023 and 2025, at much higher rates than those seen between 2014 and 2016. 

As a result, people can no longer rely solely on their initial education or training to carry them through their working lives.

This report drives home why the lifelong learning delivered through TAFE is so critical.

But opportunity depends on strong foundations: one in five Australians cannot embark on lifelong learning because of poor foundation skills. 

These skills are the bedrock of workforce participation, further learning, and social inclusion.

That’s why our Government is investing up to $142 million over five years to strengthen foundation skills, including up to $77 million through the Adult and Community Education sector.

We are delivering the Skills for Education and Employment program through a network of providers across metropolitan, regional and remote Australia including TAFE NSW, TAFE SA, TAFE Queensland, Swinburne and Melbourne Polytechnic. 

Importantly, the program has both general and First Nations streams to reflect the needs of different communities.

This commitment reflects our core belief: no one should be held back and no one left behind.

Because as Jobs and Skills Australia makes clear, the shift towards higher skilled roles will demand stronger foundation skills – and without them, opportunities will narrow.

I began this morning by talking about what we share in common.

First: restoring TAFE to its rightful place at the heart of Australia’s VET system.

Second: strengthening the public and community benefits that a strong TAFE system delivers.

And third: giving Australians – no matter their background – skills that open doors for them, and help build a world class economy.

We have made significant progress, but there is so much more to do. 

I look forward to continuing this journey with you in a spirit of trust and cooperation. 

Thank you.