JOINT STATEMENT
The Palaszczuk Government has today unveiled a list of vital funding measures that Queenslanders need to see in Tuesday night’s Federal Budget.
“Thanks to the way Queenslanders have responded to this health crisis, we’re able to focus our attention more intently on rebuilding our economy,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“We have a great opportunity to build back better here in Queensland. But that won’t be achievable without significant investment from the Federal Government.
“The Prime Minister has spoken publicly about borrowing to build. That’s what we’re doing at a state level and that’s what we want to see in Tuesday’s Federal Budget – more federal funding for Queensland projects.
Date Time
Productivity Commission final report into National Agreement on Skills and Workforce Development
The release of the Productivity Commission’s final report into the National Agreement on Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD) confirms that it is no longer fit for purpose and a new national skills agreement is needed.
Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, said the Morrison Government has commenced negotiations with states and territories.
“This report shows that our world-class VET system can be improved with a more transparent and consistent funding model,” Minister Cash said.
“It’s clear the NASWD is overdue for a replacement, but with a major overhaul we could achieve a better return on public investment.
The Australian Productivity Commission's report says the apprenticeship pathway "can be time consuming and act as a major barrier", taking up to four years to complete.
January 21, 2021
A national strategy between the states is needed to fix the Vocational Education Training (VET) system, which has seen a steady decline in the uptake and completion of apprenticeships over the last five years, a new report has found.
According to the Productivity Commission report, enrolments in apprenticeships have dropped 30% over the last two years, and more than 40% of apprentices have not finished their courses since 2015.
To remedy the situation, which the report says is not yet at crisis point, the Productivity Commission has put forward a series of far-reaching recommendations needed to improve the $6.4 billion VET sector.
The report recommends that the length of apprenticeships should be shortened, where possible, because long training programs are a barrier to higher completion rates particularly among mature-aged apprentices, who may find a three- or four-year apprenticeship too long.
IR reform needed to get more people into training: review
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State governments should give TAFEs autonomy over industrial relations to get better value for the $6.4 billion in taxpayers money that pours into the training sector, which remains so divided and unco-ordinated that one former managing director of NSW TAFE described conditions as archaic .
The recommendation is part of the final report of the Productivity Commission on a new national agreement between the states and Canberra to revamp the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.
Apprentice numbers have dropped sharply.
Gary Medlicott
Other recommendations include giving a federal committee the power to speed up the way training packages are created, which infamously took six years in one case.