The National Skills Agreement is a 5-year joint agreement between the Commonwealth, states and territories to strengthen the vocational education and training (VET) sector and will commence 1 January 2024.
The Agreement will:

• deliver a national VET system that provides high quality, responsive and accessible education and training to boost productivity
• support Australians to obtain the skills and capabilities they need to obtain well-paid, secure jobs
• ensure Australia has the skilled workforce it needs now and into the future, with TAFE at the heart of the VET sector.

National priorities are areas where governments have agreed require focused effort to address critical skills and workforce shortages. The agreed inaugural national priorities are:

• gender equality
• Closing the Gap
• supporting the Net Zero transformation
• sustaining essential care services
• developing Australia’s sovereign capability and food security
• ensuring Australia’s digital and technology capability
• delivering reforms to improve the regulation of VET qualifications and quality.

More information about the National Skills Agreement

The latest statistics from the Australian Cruise Association highlight that more than 150 cruise ships have visited Western Australia and injected over $333 million into WA economy in 2022-23.
The State's cruise sector created more than 1,000 jobs for the state.​
The upcoming cruise season kicks off with the arrival of the Coral Princess on Saturday, 11 November, bringing 2,000 passengers into the Port of Fremantle. 
In 2023-24, cruise ships will visit WA more than 140 times across WA's seven active ports at Albany, Busselton, Broome, Esperance, Exmouth, Fremantle and Geraldton.

The state Government has launched a review of senior secondary school pathways aimed at ensuring 'all Western Australian students can reach their full potential through their post-school study, training, or employment pursuits.'
Pathways to Post-School Success is being led by the Department of Education in partnership with Catholic Education Western Australia and the Association of Independent Schools Western Australia, and will be spearheaded by a panel of education specialists, including principals and tertiary education leaders. A larger advisory committee, representing key stakeholder groups, will work with the advisory panel and provide direction for the review.
The review will explore whether current pathway options are effectively preparing students for the full range of further study, training, and work options available to them.

​Read Minister Buti's full media statement

Skills Insight has commenced work as a Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) covering an extensive range of industries such as:
(i) Agriculture, Horticulture, Conservation & Land Management
(ii) Animal Care & Management
(iii) Forestry & Timber
(iv) Furnishing
(v) Textiles, Clothing & Footwear
(vi) Racing
 
The role of Skills Insight is to research and support national workforce skill development to assist in improving the VET system and industry participation within their portfolios. To find out more, including contributing to workforce development solutions, visit their website. 

The federal government via Austrade have launched a campaign this week to attract older workers to tourism. 
 
The campaign highlights the benefits of tourism jobs such as flexibility, seasonal or part-time work and the opportunity to work while touring Australia. 
 
Austrade has developed a range of resources to help businesses recruit mature age workers. 
 
Austrade website with resources

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) latest report shows that apprentice and trainee commencements increased to 85,470 in the March quarter 2022, the highest number for a quarter since 2012.  
The industry sectors with the largest absolute increases in commencements were Accommodation (51.0%), Manufacturing (37.7%), and Administrative and Support Services (21.7%) compared to March quarter 2021. 
Unfortunately cancellations and withdrawals increased during the quarter (up 28.2% from March quarter 2021).
Western Australia has 45 940 apprentice and trainees in training (up 25.4% from 31 March 2021). Read the full report here.

The state government has announced a $3.9 million package to fund tourism and hospitality workforce initiatives over the next two years.

The funding will support a series of job-ready skills training courses with StudyPerth for international students and initiatives targeting working holiday makers to leverage the returning pool of workers in these markets.

Tourism and hospitality will be promoted as a rewarding career through activity such as the Chef Ambassador in-school hospitality demonstration program delivered by Hospitality Group Training, and an annual program of in-school tourism career information sessions will also support longer-term initiatives aimed at encouraging young people to consider careers in tourism and hospitality and creating a sustainable pipeline of local skilled workers.
Read the media release here

In addition, a new hospitality and tourism recruitment campaign, called Discover the Other Side, will launch in coming weeks. The campaign will aim to help attract hospitality and tourism workers from interstate and New Zealand to work and live in WA.
More information about: Discover the Other Side

The formal ‘Industry Summary’ document has been guided by the sector’s Industry Reference Committee, comprising stakeholders from various industry organisations such as Restaurant Catering Australia, the Caravan Industry Association, AHA, training bodies, tourism groups and the Australian Travel Careers Council.

The draft summary gives an overview of the interconnected nature of travel, tourism and hospitality, as well as the crippling effect of COVID-19 and the expected industry recovery supported by the Government’s THRIVE 2030 strategy targeting $230 billion in visitor spending.

All the relevant qualifications have been reviewed and the only new proposed qualification is a Certificate IV in Travel qualification to be reviewed 2023-24 .

​To download a copy of the draft Tourism, Travel and Hospitality IRC Industry Summary, please Click Here

To provide feedback on the document: Click Here  (closes 5.00pm, Friday 29 July 2022)