$94 million investment in the skills of Victorians

Delivering higher paid, higher skilled jobs for Victorians is the driving force behind the Brumby Labor Government’s $94 million skills and employment package unveiled today in the 2008-09 State Budget.

Skills and Workforce Participation Minister Jacinta Allan said the initiatives focused on upgrading regional TAFEs, boosting apprenticeship completion rates, improving employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and driving new skills in the transport sector.

“The Brumby Labor Government is taking action to secure jobs in communities across the State, and investing in the skills of Victorians is key part of our jobs strategy,” Ms Allan said.

“Victorians deserve a training system with world-class facilities that gives them the training they need for the high-skill, high-wage jobs available in our strong economy.”

Skills and employment initiatives in the 2008-09 State Budget include:

• $25 million to extend the Apprenticeship/Traineeship Completion Bonus program for another 12 months, to ensure Victoria continues to achieve the highest apprenticeship and traineeship completion rates of any State. Under this program, employers are paid $1750 for each eligible apprentice and $1300 for each eligible trainee they take on;
• $2.1 million for a new Green Plumbing Training Centre in Brunswick, which will provide ongoing, innovative, world-class plumbing training with a focus on sustainability, energy saving, waste reduction and water conservation;
• $5 million for one year for New Workforce Partnerships – a program to match jobseekers to employers who have difficulty recruiting. The program provides skills and monitoring of work experience for more than 400 of the most disadvantaged jobseekers; and
• $1.7 million for the TAFE Student Management System Replacement Project to develop a common platform for student management and reporting across all Victorian TAFEs.
• The 2008-09 State Budget also allocates $40.2 million for a range of TAFE upgrade projects. Full details will be released in coming weeks, but projects include:
• $3.3 million to build a three-storey carpark at the University of Ballarat’s School of Mines, adjacent to the new Ballarat Technical Education Centre (TEC), which is also being built with Brumby Government funding;
• $15.5 million for the Wodonga Institute of TAFE to develop the National Logistics and Driver Skills Centre. The centre will focus on providing national qualifications in specialist transport areas such as transport and distribution, road transport and motor sport, as well as providing licensing in heavy vehicles, occupational health and safety, crane operating and other areas. Part of the centre will also deliver defensive driving courses for individuals and businesses; and
• $10.5 million for Stage One of the redevelopment of Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE’s (NMIT) Epping Campus, to help NMIT cater for growing demand for training, providing a specialist painting and plastering training centre and a new library and student services building.

Ms Allan said this investment continued the Victorian Government’s strong investment in the skills of Victorians since 1999.

“Since 1999, the Victorian Government has invested an additional $1.2 billion in Vocational Education and Training,” Ms Allan said.

“One of Victoria’s great competitive advantages is our skilled workforce and this package delivers further important new investment in skills.”

The Budget also accounts for $20 million in Brumby Labor Government funding for maintenance projects in Victoria’s TAFEs announced earlier this year. The grants were geared towards giving young Victorians the best possible learning and training facilities.

Ms Allan said this Budget investment and significant skills and training investments in previous Budgets had laid the platform for the release of Securing our future economic prosperity – the Government’s Discussion Paper on Skills in Victoria.

The paper canvasses a range of options to ensure Victorians have the skills and training they need to gain the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future and is open for consultation until 6 June.

“The Brumby Labor Government is taking action to ensure Victoria has the best training system in the country,” Ms Allan said.

“Initiatives in the discussion paper aim to improve the current system and to move to meet the workforce challenges we will face in the future.”