The State Government has reached agreement with the Commonwealth to deliver a $2.29b investment in skills for South Australians – delivering 150,000 training places over the next five years.
The investment – which represents the largest in the state’s history – has been secured under a landmark National Skills Agreement ratified by National Cabinet last week.
Under the agreement the State Government will invest more than $1.4b in skills in addition to $850m from the Commonwealth.
The funding will provide for approximately 150,000 new training places over the life of the agreement, 50,000 more than would otherwise be delivered.
Following close analysis of in-demand skills sectors and engagement with stakeholders, the key industry sectors for new training places will include building and construction, health and community services, electrotechnology, early childhood education, tourism and hospitality, mining and engineering.
Investment will be aligned to key priority areas including defence, early childhood education, clean energy transition, building and construction and ICT, supporting South Australians to complete training and move into secure, well-paid jobs.
This will help build the workforce of the key priority projects of the state including AUKUS, three-year-old preschool, building more homes, and hydrogen.
It will also see a $90m annual boost for TAFE SA to fund extra training places, capital works upgrades and extra support services for students, continuing our work to rebuild TAFE SA.
The agreement also includes new funding to grow the VET workforce to meet future need, free foundation skills training for those who need to access courses like English as an Additional Language to get on a path to work, and funding to work with Aboriginal communities to Close the Gap by improving First Nations’ peoples access and completion of TAFE and training courses.
The National Skills Agreement will also look to improve completion rates through a $37m commitment to continue the state’s nation-leading work in looking after students and helping them finish their studies through further supports like mentoring and wellbeing support.
This National Skills Agreement comes on top of the 15,000 additional fee-free TAFE places for 2024-26 the State Government recently announced with the Commonwealth Government.
