In my last post, I highlighted some of the key budget measures handed down by the Treasurer earlier this month. I noted that while the boost to infrastructure was a positive, there is a problem looming for the Government in the form of a skills shortage. And despite countless promises to address the issues facing the VET sector, where the majority of these new workers need to be trained, the Government has failed to take real action.
Education, on the whole, received very little in the way of increased funding in the 2018 Budget. Spending was focused on early childhood initiatives and university-driven research programs. I’ll talk about the R&D funding at another time. For now, let’s focus on the big loser out of the Budget – vocational education.
Despite plenty of rhetoric from Prime Minister Turnbull, Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham and other Government heavy-weights, there was no significant commitment made in the 2018 Budget to improve support for the struggling vocational education sector. In fact, the Government merely reiterated its desire to have the states do the heavy lifting by adding a guaranteed level of funding (already promised) to its previously announced Skilling Australians Fund (SAF).
The SAF was actually presented as part of the 2017 Budget, where the Government pledged $1.5 billion in funding for apprenticeships and traineeships, provided the State Governments agreed to its National Partnership Program (and thereby committing to match the Government’s spending with their own). To date, no states have signed up to the program and the Skilling Australians Fund levy, intended to collect revenue for the initiative, is still being considered by Parliament.
This lack of concerted effort by the Government to address the issues that continue to plague the VET sector is incredibly disheartening.
Further exasperating the issue is the increase in infrastructure spending, requiring more skilled workers. The Reserve Bank has been warning for a few months now that there are reports of employers finding it more difficult to hire workers with the necessary skills. Without a cohesive plan to match jobs growth with the necessary uplift in local skills, we may find ourselves relying on immigration to fill the gaps, putting further pressure on low-middle income households where breadwinners are forced into underemployment.
It is worth noting that the Government did pay heed to some of the recommendations of the Halsey Report into Regional, Rural and Remote Education. $96.1 million was allocated by the Treasurer to help regionally-based school students transition into tertiary education or work. However, this funding is once again skewed towards universities, not VET providers. This is despite Halsey’s direct recommendation that the Federal Government “expand the availability, affordability and accessibility of high quality work experience placements, VET, dual VET/university options and two-year associate degree programs for regional students”.
What will it take for the Government to take its university blinkers off and recognise the value of a thriving vocational education sector?