Press conference, Grafton

STEVE WHAN, NEW SOUTH WALES MINISTER FOR SKILLS, TAFE AND TERTIARY EDUCATION: I acknowledge traditional owners of the country we're on, and elders past and present. It’s great to be here in Grafton at Grafton TAFE. It's particularly good to have Andrew Giles, the Federal Minister with us here today We have a great partnership with the Federal Government, which is producing real results for our vocational training in New South Wales. Also be- it's great to be joined as well by Kai and Dan, two of our electrotechnology students and Aaron, our teacher in the electrotechnology section here at Grafton TAFE.

We’ve got a great announcement today. A joint program – New South Wales Government funding plus $70-odd million dollars from the Federal Government's program. We've signed a five-year agreement with the Federal Government National Skills Agreement, and out of that, today's initiative is all about keeping people on and enhancing completions from vocational training. So some really key parts of this are around the scholarships that we offer for people from different backgrounds. One key part which is going to be very important to students in country New South Wales is that we're increasing the VTAS, which is the per-kilometre subsidy that we give students who need to travel for their training for more than 110 kilometres as a round trip, which as we all know in Regional New South Wales is many of our apprentices. And that amount of funding per kilometre is going up from 33 to 52 cents, so it's a nearly 60 per cent increase in that subsidy. It's important to help cover the costs for apprentices. We all know that cost of living pressures hit very hard on apprentices, and anything we can do to help with that is really important. So that per-kilometre subsidy is increasing.

We're also increasing the overnight allowance for people who need to stay when they come to training, along with that increasing a number of really already successful programs – things like our scholarship for Indigenous students coming into vocational training; some of our work with re-engaging young people who are disengaged from the education system. A program that's already running which we’ll be expanding is the Get Back in the Game program. That's one which helps people who have disengaged from school, links them up with some personal support and helps them to get into vocational training. So that's just a few of the things which we're actually doing as a part of this announcement today, all aimed at enhancing our retention, getting people to the end of their apprenticeships and into those jobs that are in such high demand, and also assisting to attract people into some of those high demand industries like electrotechnology.

So we can only do this with the amazing support of the Albanese Government and with the incredible support of Federal Minister Andrew Giles, and I'll ask him to say a few words as well.

ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks Steve. It's great to be here in Grafton today, and it's really good to be working with you again and to be hearing from Dan and Kai and their teacher, the electrotechnology teacher here, Aaron. Today is about a $150 million commitment in the future of New South Wales - $150 million jointly with the Minns Labor Government and Minister Whan here to invest in young people, and also not-so-young people to get into a trade and to complete their journey to a qualification. One of the things that I focus on every day working with Steve is recognising that in just about every area of life in our country and in this state, we have been facing skills shortages. The National Skills Agreement, that five-year partnership Minister Whan was just talking about, is about putting a huge collective effort on turning that around and making sure that in every part of our country, we're enabling everyone to access skills want to do the jobs they need.

Now, we recognise that we've got more to do to get people started in VET pathways, and we've been making real progress through that through things like the Free TAFE partnership which has been such a success, particularly in regional areas. But we know there's more to do, not just to get people starting off in their trade journey, but to get to the end of it. And that's really what today's announcement's all about. So many of the things that Steve has just highlighted recognise things that we've been hearing in classrooms like this one right around the state and around the country. People who can't complete because of cost of living pressures or because they're not getting the right support at the right time to finish their journey. And that's what today's announcement will enable us to do. It's built on a partnership – a partnership between the Commonwealth Government and the Minns Government here in New South Wales. It's built on listening – it's built on listening to teachers like Aaron and students like Dan and Kai, understanding some of the barriers that have held apprentices and their students back from getting to the end of their journey, particularly in regional areas, particularly people from backgrounds that may not have been exposed to this kind of pathway before.

So I'm really excited to be here in Grafton. My first visit here, hopefully not my last. We'll see if I'm invited back after today. But this is a deep investment in skilling people in all of New South Wales, particularly in regional communities like this one, where people so often have to travel a long way to study and face other barriers to getting the skills they want, which will enable them to get good, secure jobs and make a great contribution. So if there are any federal questions for me first, or if you want to go to Steve –

JOURNALIST: We can start with Steve, and then I have a federal question for you as we move along. I suppose just to start with, talk to us about the real demand. Why have we seen this change, particularly in our regions?

WHAN: Well, there's a couple of aspects to this. First of all, at the moment with apprenticeships, only around 55 per cent of our people who commence an apprenticeship finish. So we've got huge shortages in many of the areas that apprenticeships cover, and if we can boost up that retention and get more people to the end, then we'll be going some way to addressing that. We consistently hear from apprentices that cost of living is a pressure, as it is in so many parts of our society, and that a number of these things like the travel assistance would be very worthwhile if we were able to increase that. So it's directly, this work is directly based on the sort of feedback that we've been getting from apprentices and from industry around New South Wales.

JOURNALIST: We heard you speaking to some of the students about their travel and their experience out in the communities. Talk to us about how this improved, and I think you said 60 per cent in the travel subsidy – how will it be felt by these students?

WHAN: It's from 33 cents to around 52 cents per kilometre, so it's a pretty significant increase. What we know in regional New South Wales is that we can address the barriers of distance a couple of ways. First of all, we try to provide courses as close to home as possible, but that's not always possible, particularly when you need specialist teachers and specialist facilities. So we can minimise the amount of times that apprentices need to come in, but when they do need to come into a centralised facility or a facility like Grafton, we can help them cover those costs. We know that apprentice wages, particularly in the first year, are not particularly generous, but it's a balance between what employers can afford to pay and what costs apprentices have. So this per kilometre rate just really helps with one of those cost-of-living pressures.

JOURNALIST: I suppose the travel subsidy is one. What other key areas are we seeing this $150 million going into?

WHAN: Some other really important ones. We have some scholarships for students who are disadvantaged in their access to vocational training. So we're going to be boosting some of those, particularly scholarships for Indigenous people coming into vocational training. Important in regional New South Wales because we need to build a workforce and we've got electrotechnology students here with us at the moment. When we go through that transition to renewables, we want to be building a workforce which is actually able to stay in those communities and work there for the long term as well. And so if we are addressing some of those issues around disadvantaged students and their access to education, that's really helpful.

Part of the other work that we're doing in this is with a program called Get Back in the Game, which is about young people who disengage from school. And we know that when that happens, we need to do quite a lot of wraparound support with those young people to get them engaged in some sort of training and to support them in their journey through training. And I've spoken to a number of providers of that program in this region, in the Northern Rivers region, who've told me how successful that is and we're able to expand that program through this. So, there's those plus quite a number of other elements in this package.

JOURNALIST: I suppose is there a specific reason for Grafton today or is it just a prime example of what we're going to be seeing?

WHAN: Great place to visit. I've wanted to come to Grafton TAFE. We've got also electrotechnology training going on here but specifically, I guess, I'm a Member who represents a rural area as well and I know how important that travel subsidy is for country areas, so it's important for us to come and make this announcement in a country region where it's going to be the most beneficial. The other aspect is visit Grafton TAFE, but we're also going to be visiting the high school where they're running the Education Pathways Program which is a really successful program that links young people in Years 9, 10, 11 to vocational careers, and that's operating in around 183 of our 440 odd high schools in New South Wales. This is one of them here. It's a successful program and I'm keen to talk to the people involved in it.

JOURNALIST: Are we seeing many instances where let's say students are travelling out of maybe Sydney or Newcastle into these regional areas, and if so, will they improve from this funding as well?

WHAN: Anybody who's got to travel for their training can benefit from this program. Anecdotally, for me anyway, it’s mostly kids in regional areas who are travelling to get their assistance, and obviously in Sydney and those areas a lot of other transport options than we have in country New South Wales.

JOURNALIST: We just have a couple questions for the Federal Minister as well. Can you quickly speak to us about how this has improved, or how this partnership has improved on previous funding you may have seen from both state and federal levels?

GILES: There's a couple of things to say about that. Firstly, it's a five year commitment because we recognise that in the past we just haven't had that certainty at any level. So there were nine years under the former conservative government where there wasn't an agreement between the states and the territories. That was a real barrier to states investing in training, to people taking on apprentices, to doing all the things we need to do, both to meet our workforce challenges from an economy-wide perspective but also in ensuring that more doors are opened up to more people getting into vocational education and training.

So having this five year agreement is fundamental. From our point of view it's also, I tried to touch on the importance of listening because in Canberra and from Melbourne where I am, I don't presume to understand what works in regional New South Wales. And that's why I really wanted to highlight that these are initiatives that New South Wales Government has put together and put to us as part of our shared objectives. So we've got a shared vision whether it's about the priority industries where we need to attract more people to, like electrotechnology, like early childhood education and care, like the manufacturing skills, but we also know that within those broad priorities there's an understanding close to the ground that we've got to listen to. So this is about a real partnership where we have shared objectives but also a capacity to work together to recognise that their understanding’s close in communities, that the New South Wales Government, Steve and his team, have to come together.

JOURNALIST: How crucial is diversity in these industries and how is it going to improve the diversity we see?

GILES: Yeah, fundamentally important. There's an element that's true across every skill set that's in shortage in Australia and that's a really big gender skew. We don't have enough nurses and very, very few of them are men. We don't have enough plumbers and almost none of them are women. So making sure that in every occupation that's in shortage we're looking at the entirety of the population, not half of it, is fundamental to achieve our economic goals. But it's also, I think, a mark of a good society that we open up every profession, every trade to every member of our community. We recognise all the barriers that hold people back. Whether it's not having a role model, which has been the case for a lot of young women in traditional trades, whether it's the barrier of distance that Steve's been talking about already today, or some of the other things that have been holding people back. I think it's a mark of a good society that everyone should be able to see themselves doing any job, and it's our responsibility in government to try and break down those barriers.

JOURNALIST: Just finally from me, you mentioned it's a five-year commitment. Can you speak to us about how this will be rolling out, what we might see on this sort of timeframe?

GILES: Yeah, sure. So what we've got is the National Skills Agreement which has been running for a couple of years now. So we're about 40 per cent into its duration. It's about the national government and every state and territory coming together and recognising a couple of things.

Firstly, that we have got a skills crisis in Australia that's built up over a long period of time. Secondly, if we're going to solve it, it requires all working together. And thirdly, it's about identifying the ways in which we need to go about it. So reaching agreement on the industries that we want to focus on. Reaching agreement on some of the particular challenges we want to tackle. And this is a really good example of that because we know that we've got a challenge in encouraging more young people and indeed older people to get into the skilled trades, particularly the electrical trades. That's one of the reasons why it's so important we'll go and talk to 15 year olds in an hour or so about their aspirations.

But it's also important once we get people to start their journey with the trades to support them to finish. And we know that over the course of an apprenticeship people face challenges. Cost of living is a big one, particularly in that first year. Some people face challenges, I know in the electrical trades, the maths is really hard as it corresponds to the [indistinct]. Well, hard for me, maybe not for them. Understanding how we can identify where someone might need a bit of extra support, where they can be supported through other things that happen in their life is absolutely fundamental.

As Steve said, we've been running at about a 55 per cent completion rate for apprenticeships for a long time. That's not good enough. It's a waste. It's a waste of the employer's investment, and it's a waste of the apprentice's time. We’ve got to do better. This is $150 million that's all about doing better.

JOURNALIST: What we'll do is we'll just get your first and last name and the spelling of both, please. What do you study, mate?

KAI ROBINSEN, STUDENT: I study electrotechnology.

JOURNALIST: Fantastic. Mate, how long have you been studying this course for?

ROBINSEN: About eight months now.

JOURNALIST: What sort of drove you into this course? What is your passion?

ROBINSEN: I guess I'm passionate to get on the job site and do work because more and more AI jobs are getting taken over and stuff. So I got to get in front of the, I guess the people are kind of fallen behind.

JOURNALIST: How does it feel going into an industry such as this? We hear there is a shortage. How does it feel to be able to contribute to an industry such as this?

ROBINSEN: Feels good being able to contribute to clean energy and stuff and net zero. That's a big goal.

JOURNALIST: In terms of travel, are you living nearby Grafton, or do you have to travel a little bit when you come into the facility?

ROBINSEN: I live around the Coffs region, so there's about 40 minutes of travel up and back. I haven't filled out any VTAS forms yet, but this is going to be real good news for me because I can fill them all out now and backdate them. It’ll be a big lump sum [laughs].

JOURNALIST: What have been the biggest hurdles financially, mate?

ROBINSEN: Biggest hurdles, probably just fuel, keeping the car going. I actually haven’t had too many financial struggles because I still live with mum and dad so it's easy to save a lot of money, invest, keep on top of everything. Yeah, there's incentives and stuff that apprentices can get. Albanese introduced the $10k that you can get as an apprentice over time. That's been really helpful. It's not too tough, really, if you're on top of it.

JOURNALIST: Dan, what do you study as well?

DAN KENNEDY, STUDENT: I study electrical technology here at Grafton TAFE.

JOURNALIST: How long have you been studying this for, mate?

KENNEDY: About eight months now.

JOURNALIST: Talk to me about your experience so far. Have you yourself had any financial struggles with studying?

KENNEDY: Coming from Coffs as well, it's a little bit difficult travelling up and back every day. The fuel is a bit expensive. But not really anything other than tools, but that's expected as a first year.

JOURNALIST: Obviously, in the first year, you're not on a great wage. Just talk to us about how this financial improvement could really assist with such travel costs as well.

KENNEDY: Driving to and from the site, I can get a bit of money back for that, and then come into TAFE as well, I already get payments for that, [indistinct]. Just try to help me along my way to becoming a second year.

JOURNALIST: To your knowledge, will you have to travel sort of away from Grafton or any further for your course?

KENNEDY: Yeah. So next year, I head down to Sydney to do my line marking course. So there’s extra money for that as well that will make it better.

JOURNALIST: When you do that, is it a weekly basis? How often would you sort of travel down to Sydney for?

KENNEDY: Maybe once a month, but I go for the week and then I'll drive down there and then come back. So just the extra money will help sort of cover for accommodation and food and everything else on the way.

JOURNALIST: Fantastic, mate. This is a great announcement today. We're seeing lots of funding. Is there anything else you'd like to see maybe in the future following soon?

KENNEDY: Not really. Just more encouragement for people to get into the trade. It's heaps of fun, everyone's smiling, and stuff like that. It's really good for mental health.

JOURNALIST: Are you still living at home?

KENNEDY: Yeah, but I'm planning on moving out. At the minute, I'm looking for places around.

JOURNALIST: Have you got any mates that aren't living at home?

KENNEDY: A few of them down at university, but they're doing a fair bit rougher than me, so.

JOURNALIST: Your first and last name as well, please.

AARON MCMILLAN, TEACHER: It’s Aaron McMillan. I'm the head teacher of electrotechnology here at Grafton.

JOURNALIST: Fantastic. Aaron from your experience, talk to us about how this funding is going to really improve the well-being of students here, particularly in Grafton.

MCMILLAN: Well, here in Grafton, we have students that travel in excess of 100 kilometres per day one way to attend training here. This announcement by both ministers is definitely going to help our students with the cost of living and financial benefits with travel and accommodation.

JOURNALIST: Do you think we will see more people completing the course if they are going to be subsidised for their travel?

MCMILLAN: Yeah, this would definitely assist students to have an option of where they travel to attend and what course they do. And the ones who would be travelling here in Grafton will definitely, this will assist them in completing the course without having that financial burden.

JOURNALIST: From your experience, what other barriers are we seeing prevent students from completing their courses?

MCMILLAN: Majority of the time, it is the cost of travel, cost of accommodation. For an apprentice, it costs a fair bit of money to attend TAFE. We deliver block release here, so it's five days a week they have to attend TAFE. They could either travel daily, they might have accommodation each night plus meals and accommodation with that as well.

JOURNALIST: I suppose, moving forward, is there any other sort of assistance you’d like to see?

MCMILLAN: I'd probably like to go to Karen or Joe with that. I wouldn’t want to comment on that at this stage.

JOURNALIST: In terms of your industry, what have we seen over the maybe the last five years or so? Have you seen a rise, a decrease, or a shift into people who are taking the course?

MCMILLAN: Definitely seen a rise in the students coming through. It does vary on different areas and regions. In particular out here, we have seen a slight decline. But a lot of that is just due to the cost of living crisis.

JOURNALIST: Is there anything else you think is worth mentioning?

MCMILLAN: No.