130 fee-free qualifications and skill sets are available in 2024 and the Commonwealth and State Governments have extended the agreement to deliver fee-free training until the end of 2026.

Enrolments for 2024 are still being finalised, however there have been a record number of applications to study fee-free courses in 2024 - a 29 per cent increase on applications compared to this time last year. There has also been a 25 per cent increase in applications for TAFE courses overall.

Health and care sector qualifications made up seven out of the top ten fee-free full qualifications, with the strongest enrolment growth in 2023, compared to the previous year.
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Other courses in the top ten for enrolment growth last year include:
• Certificate IV in Information Technology/Certificate IV in Information Technology Networking (up by 473 enrolments); and
• Certificate III in Commercial Cookery (up 239 enrolments)

Access the TAFE website

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 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

Training Package Products including qualifications, skill sets and units of competency for the Events, Travel, Tourism and Hospitality sectors, Cookery and Kitchen Operations and the Responsible Service of Alcohol have been updated in order to meet the current and future needs of industry.

The updated Training Package SIT - Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Training Package (Release 2.0) has been published on the national register and can be accessed here.

• ​A new website has been created in partnership with the Australian Hotels Association WA and Tourism WA and connects job seekers with available tourism and hospitality roles to help employers fill vacancies.  
• This purpose-built platform will exclusively host tourism and hospitality jobs, while offering job seekers training, visa support, seasonal opportunities and information on regional destinations.   
• The jobs site is free for both employers and job seekers. 
• With the WA border now open, and international and interstate visitors back in Western Australia, there is a need for additional workers across many businesses throughout the State, particularly in regional areas. 

​Click here to access the new website

Apprentices
Apprentices in high-demand industries (including Chefs) will get up to $5000 in cash payments for the first two years of their training but wage subsidies will be scaled back for employers.
The renamed Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Scheme has been re targeted so that apprentices, as well as employers, receive financial incentives.
Under the scheme, from July 1 employers in “priority occupations” will receive 10 per cent wage subsidy for first and second-year apprentices and 5 per cent for third years. The subsidy caps out at $15,000. Employers in regional areas will receive an additional 5 per cent wage subsidy for each of the three years of an apprentice’s training.
In a measure aimed at tackling dropout rates among young tradies, those aged between 15 and 20 will receive a follow-up call within three months of starting their apprenticeships to iron out any early issues and the government will fund 2500 more in-training support places.
Tourism Research
The Budget allocates $2 million for a new “visitor economy online employment and skills platform” as well as $4.8 million for Tourism Research Australia “to capture and analyse more tourism and visitor data to help businesses operating in the visitor economy make improved business decisions,”
Working Holiday makers
To help address skills shortages, the current caps on Working Holiday Makers will have a one off 30% increase in 2022/23.
Training
With the aim of encouraging small businesses to train new staff and upskill existing employees, small businesses that invest in training new employees will receive a $120 tax deduction for every $100 spent on training employees.
Read the budget papers here

​Draft 2 of the SIT Tourism Travel and Hospitality Training Package are now available for stakeholder review. The draft can be found on the Skills IQ website:
https://www.skillsiq.com.au/FeedbackForum/TrainingPackages1/SITTourismTravelandHospitality/SITTPDDraft2
It is possible to make comments directly on the SkillsIQ website, however it would be appreciated if you could copy the FutureNow Industry Development Manager for the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Events industries, Melissa Harkins, at [email protected] or on 0497 799 990 in on your feedback. She will pass this feedback onto the DTWD (Department of Training and Workforce Development) so they can ensure the SSO (Skills Service Organisation – SkillsIQ) and the IRC (Industry Reference Committee) consider the issues identified from WA industry stakeholders.
SkillsIQ are hosting 2 more webinars to seek stakeholder input. To register your interest in attending a webinar, please click on one of the links below.
                     Date                                                  Time (AEDT)
Webinar 3: Monday, 22 November 2021         3.00pm-4.30pm
Webinar 4: Wednesday, 24 November 2021   09.30am-11.00am
 
Please forward your feedback by COB next Thursday 25th November.

The McGowan Government has announced funding for the construction of new state-of-the-art training facilities at North Regional TAFE's Broome and Kununurra campuses.
As part of the Rebuilding our TAFEs plan, $10 million has been allocated for a hospitality training centre in Broome, and $6 million has been allocated for a health and hospitality trade training centre at the Kununurra campus.
The new centre in Broome will provide students with a contemporary training environment and will be home to a new live works training restaurant and alfresco café. The centre will ensure students are job-ready and equipped to take up local employment opportunities in the hospitality and tourism industry as well as in the wider region such as catering in mine sites.
Live training restaurants add vibrancy to local communities and foster better industry partnerships while delivering industry-standard training.
The upgrades at North Regional TAFE's are part of the $167.4 million investment in capital works projects.
Read the full ministerial media statement.

As part of the WA Recovery Plan, the McGowan Government has announced a world-class hospitality and tourism training centre will be built at South Metropolitan TAFE's Mandurah campus.
The $9.17 million centre will replace an ageing home economics-style room to enable training of apprentice chefs in the Peel region. The centre will also focus on engaging local secondary students, young people and the long-term unemployed in vocational education and training.
The centre is set to improve the Peel region's capacity to train job-ready, highly skilled chefs, as well as front of house staff, event coordinators and tourism workers.
Read the full ministerial media statement.