Apprenticeships and traineeships

National Skills Agreement

Activities funded under the National Skills Agreement that may relate to apprenticeships and traineeships include funding to increase audits and investigations of training providers and employers, with a strong focus on apprenticeship safety and addressing unacceptable behaviours in the training system ($62.6 million over five years), additional funding for mental health and wellbeing supports, career and course information and upfront assessment of learner needs ($56.2 million over five years), Closing the Gap initiatives to support lifting the proportion of Aboriginal people with a certificate III or above ($18.3 million over five years), and $13.3 million over five years to support the state's workforce planning and defence industries pathways programs (Budget paper 5: Budget measures statement, p. 8).

Skills SA

The highlights of Skills SA for 2023-24, which incorporate those of the South Australian Skills Commission (the Commission), include:

• the trial of a pilot for the recognition of a person's skills and experience in a trade or declared vocation in regional South Australia under the Commission's revised framework
• introduction of industry engagement reforms aiming to support the work of the new Jobs and Skills Councils, including workforce planning and training product development, and contribute to the Commission's key strategic objectives relating to apprentice and trainee safety and training
• provision of complaint handling and dispute resolution services to apprentices, trainees, international and domestic vocational education and training (VET) and higher education students.

The targets for 2024-25 include the introduction of effective regulation of apprenticeships and traineeships with greater emphasis on employer assessment and active monitoring of apprentices' progress, continuing to improve registered employers' compliance with their contractual and legislative obligations, under the South Australian Skills Act 2008, and to lift the quality of on-job training and workplace experiences for apprentices and trainees to support traineeship and apprenticeship completions (Budget paper 4: Agency statements: volume 1, p. 184).

Employment

Thriving Regions Fund

The government provides $15 million per annum to support regional South Australia through the Thriving Regions Fund (the Fund). The Fund aims to provide an opportunity for support to target all areas of natural, economic, human and social capital to address regional development objectives. It will also enable effective partnering with the Commonwealth and local governments, and the private sector to achieve more collectively. The intended long-term outcomes from investment through the Fund are improved quality of life for regional communities, thriving, resilient, sustainable regional communities that attract and retain people to live and work, a pipeline of regional leaders providing a voice for their regions, creation of regional job opportunities and improved career options by capitalising on regional growth potential, and stronger regional economies (Budget paper 3: Budget statement, p. 94).

Regional Development Australia associations

A commitment of $3 million per annum (indexed) from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2026 has been made to the seven non-metropolitan Regional Development Australia associations (RDAs) to continue meeting their responsibilities, including providing independent advice on critical issues affecting their regions, and promoting awareness of government programs in the community. In consultation with their Boards and key local stakeholders, each RDA has developed work programs that provide economic opportunities in their region and demonstrate alignment with state priorities. The RDAs also prepare Investment Pipeline reports providing a comprehensive snapshot of a region's planned, current and completed public and private projects. This data is shared with government to inform infrastructure planning and investment.

Through an investment of $2 million per annum (indexed) from the Thriving Regions Fund, the seven non-metropolitan RDAs are delivering leadership programs in their regions based on an assessment of leadership needs, and development of place-based training solutions to fill any gaps in 2024 and 2025 calendar years. Increasing leadership capacity is vital in regional South Australia to ensure a pipeline of skilled individuals who reflect local demographics and can represent the needs and guide the future aspirations of their communities (Budget paper 3: Budget statement, pp. 94-95).

Industry

Defence industry

The defence sector is a key component of the state's economic future. Additional investment in the vocational education and training (VET) sector, in partnership with the Commonwealth, will make available for the defence sector an extra 800 training places each year over the five years of the National Skills Agreement. These will include training places in the critical skills areas needed to build the AUKUS and the Hunter-Class Frigates projects such as electrical, advanced manufacturing, plumbing and welding. $13.3 million has also been provided to support the state's workforce planning and defence industries pathways programs. The defence industry will also promote the sector to students and engage them in school-based apprenticeships through the Schools Pathway Program, and the five new technical colleges will focus on state priorities, which include defence skills. TAFE SA will also commence the training delivery of the new Defence Industry Pathways program to provide defence traineeships for school leavers (Media release, 7 June 2024; Budget paper 4: Agency statements: volume 4, p. 78).

Early Childhood Education and Care

$469.7 million is allocated over five years from 2023-24 (in addition to investing expenditure of $245.3 million over four years from 2024-25) to deliver on the government's commitment to implement the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care, in particular the rollout of 3-year-old preschool and funding to build the workforce and infrastructure needed to expand the sector for these reforms (Budget paper 3: Budget statement, p. 17). 

$96.6 million is allocated over four years to grow and support the early childhood workforce and improve preschool quality in preparation for universal roll out of the reforms, including additional support to the Education Standards Board (Budget paper 5: Budget measures statement, p. 19).

Net zero agriculture

$4.8 million per annum (indexed) is provided from 2024-25 for five years ($19.5 million over four years from 2024-25 and $5 million in 2028-29) to develop and deliver innovation, on-farm solutions and to support the upskilling of the agricultural sector to reduce emissions through low emission intensity farming systems. Leveraging Commonwealth funding and industry contributions, this initiative will support the state's target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 (Budget paper 5: Budget measures statement, p. 60; Budget paper 3: Budget statement, p. 18).

State workforce planning

This initiative provides $7.9 million over four years from 2024-25 for the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science to undertake strategic workforce planning for South Australia to support the delivery of major government infrastructure investments, essential services and growth industries. The initiative also includes partnering with the private sector to deliver specific employment support programs to address skilled migrant underutilisation in engineering, construction and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors. The initiative is partially funded by the National Skills Agreement (Budget paper 5: Budget measures statement, p. 44).

National Agreements

In 2024-25, the Australian Government will provide estimated funding of $183.5 million to support South Australia's skills and workforce development services through the National Skills Agreement and National Partnerships.

National Skills Agreement

Funding from the Commonwealth Government under the National Skills Agreement is estimated at $119.3 million in 2024-25 (Budget paper 3: Budget statement, p. 45). 

In October 2023, first ministers agreed on a new National Skills Agreement (NSA) replacing the former National Agreement on Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD). As 2023-24 is a transitional year, funding for that year reflects the combined estimates for the NASWD (1 July 2023 to 31 December 2023) and the NSA (1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024). The NSA aims to support a skills reform agenda to deliver a high quality, responsive and accessible vocational education and training (VET) system, and to support individuals to obtain the skills and capabilities they need to obtain well paid, secure jobs. The agreement puts TAFE at the centre of the VET sector and seeks to progress national priorities including Closing the Gap, gender equality, addressing skills shortages and developing Australia's sovereign capability. States and territories will have appropriate flexibility, autonomy and funding certainty to deliver both national and local priorities (Budget paper 3: Budget statement, p. 47). 

The National Skills Agreement represents a $2.3 billion investment in skills over five years in partnership with the Commonwealth Government. The 2024-25 budget provides an additional $610.3 million over the forward estimates ($692.6 million to 2028-29) to deliver on the requirements under the agreement, to provide South Australians with the opportunity to get the skills they need for the jobs being created across the state and drive higher completions (Budget paper 5: Budget measures statement, p. 8).

National Partnerships 

Funding for National Partnerships is estimated at $64.2 million in 2024-25 (Budget paper 3: Budget statement, p. 45).

Training providers and programs

National Skills Agreement

The National Skills Agreement represents a $2.3 billion investment in skills over five years in partnership with the Commonwealth Government. This initiative provides an additional $610.3 million over the forward estimates ($692.6 million to 2028-29) to deliver on the requirements under the agreement. The funding will support TAFE SA, not-for-profits and other non-government training providers and includes:

• $275.6 million for over 160 000 training places over the life of the agreement across TAFE SA and non-government training providers, prioritising the future skills needs of the state in areas including defence, health, building and construction, early childhood education, clean energy transition, and information and communications technology (ICT). This includes a 20 per cent increase in TAFE SA places in regional SA.
• $62.6 million for quality training including a boost to audits and investigations to ensure training providers and employers do the right thing. This includes a strong focus on apprenticeship safety and addressing unacceptable behaviours in the training system.
• $56.2 million to support students and increase training completion rates. This includes additional funding for mental health and wellbeing supports, such as help to find secure housing and manage financial stress. Accessibility to career and course information and upfront assessment of learner needs will be improved and more students will be able to access foundation skills programs.
• $53.1 million to increase the vocational education and training (VET) workforce, develop curriculum to meet the state's economic priorities and investment in teaching plant and equipment and student infrastructure.
• $18.3 million for Closing the Gap initiatives that deliver culturally safe and respectful education to First Nations students through Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation training providers and TAFE SA to support lifting the proportion of Aboriginal people with a certificate III or above.
• $13.3 million to support the state's workforce planning and defence industries pathways programs.
• $9.0 million to support place-based responses in regional areas to connect learners, employers and trainers to get people into training and work where it is needed most.

As part of this investment, there is a significant uplift in investment in TAFE SA to provide a modern and responsive TAFE SA at the heart of the VET sector (Budget paper 5: Budget measures statement, p. 8).

Skills SA

Skills SA, Program 3 of the Department for Education, is the steward of the vocational education and training (VET) system. In 2024-25, the targets for Skills SA include:

• release the Jobs and Skills Outlook and Skills Investment Plan to support the Skills Policy Direction
• commence delivery of initiatives outlined in the Skills Policy Direction with a focus on completions, learning wellbeing, quality and a managed training system
• collaborate with states and territories to deliver on shared stewardship of the national VET system under the National Skills Agreement
• introduce effective regulation of apprenticeships and traineeships with greater emphasis on employer assessment and active monitoring of apprentices' progress to enhance the quality of the system
• continue to improve registered employers' compliance with their contractual and legislative obligations, under the South Australian Skills Act 2008, and to lift the quality of on-job training and workplace experiences for apprentices and trainees to support traineeship and apprenticeship completions
• continue to provide independent, industry and data-informed advice to the Minister focused on supporting a connected, flexible training system that delivers a highly skilled workforce and supports the development of greater economic complexity.

The estimated net cost of services for Skills SA are $375.572 million in 2024-25 (Budget paper 4: Agency statements: volume 1, pp. 184-185).

TAFE SA

TAFE SA is South Australia's public training provider of vocational education and training (VET) and higher education, delivering for the public interest. TAFE SA delivers job-focused training across a range of industries from entry-level certificates to bachelor degrees, at locations across the state. The program net cost of services is estimated to be $10.729 million in 2024-25 (Budget paper 4: Agency statements: volume 4, p. 76).

The 2024-25 investment program for TAFE SA is $16.5 million. The program continues to invest in improving the TAFE SA digital environment and access to training; providing modern and compliant training environments; updating teaching plant and equipment required for industry ready skills and maintaining asset value through the asset lifecycle replacement programs to support the delivery of vocational and education training delivery across the state. The existing projects include:

• Contemporary Digital Student Learning Systems and Support Services - this project forms part of TAFE SA's overall investment of $25 million in system enhancements and is estimated to be completed in the June quarter of 2025. The project timing reflects retiming of Student Engagement Hub improvements at various TAFE SA campuses to align campus master planning. It has a total cost of $5.482 million and $752 000 is allocated in 2024-25.
• Upgrades to Mount Gambier campus - the upgrades have an estimated total project cost of $5 million, with $4.75 million allocated in 2024-25. The estimated completion quarter is December 2025. The project timing has been aligned with the Mount Gambier Technical College to prevent duplication of offering (Budget paper 4: Agency statements: volume 4, p. 77).

The targets for 2024-25 include commencing the training delivery of the new Defence Industry Pathways program to provide defence traineeships for school leavers and play an essential role in growing South Australia's defence workforce (Budget paper 4: Agency statements: volume 4, p. 78).