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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 382 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 16 June 2022 by Ms R.S. Stephens

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

TRAINING — LOWER FEES, LOCAL SKILLS PROGRAM

382. Ms R.S. STEPHENS to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Education and Training:

I refer to the McGowan Labor government's efforts to create more training opportunities in critical occupations through the Lower Fees, Local Skills program.

(1) Can the parliamentary secretary outline to the house how the government's commitment to TAFE and training has delivered more training opportunities for Western Australians?

(2) Can the parliamentary secretary outline this government's record on TAFE and training, and how it compares with that of the previous Liberal–National government?

Mr T.J. HEALY replied:

I thank the member for Albany for the question. I knowledge that the member for Albany is a former hairdressing student and a former lecturer at Albany TAFE, so she knows TAFE and the importance of the training sector very well.

(1)–(2) Under the McGowan government more Western Australians are being trained than ever before. The training sector under this government has experienced a major surge with new data, which I can inform the chamber of, showing 150 000 publicly funded course enrolments reported in 2021—the highest ever recorded. The number of student enrolments was up 21 per cent from 2020. Western Australian employers are also signing up apprentices and trainees at record levels. For example, 10 000 apprenticeship and trainee contracts were registered in just three months this year, which has never been achieved before. In March 2020 alone, there were over 4 000 registrations, which is the highest number of monthly registrations on record. It is not only commencements that are up; apprenticeship completions increased by 26 per cent in March this year, and trainee completions were up by 12 per cent. This is on top of freezing TAFE fees as soon as we came to government to give Western Australians certainty on fee prices. Then we reduced TAFE fees for 210 higher priority courses by up to 72 per cent. We undertook the largest TAFE capital works program in WA history with $25 million in new state-of-the-art equipment at TAFE colleges. We had incentive programs for businesses to employ more apprentices and trainees.

Everyone knows that when we came to government, the training sector was in a mess. Under the members opposite, we saw the trashing of the TAFE system, funding cuts, skyrocketing fees and plummeting enrolments. Between 2013 and 2017, the former Liberal–National government increased fees by over 500 per cent; and annual student enrolments fell by up to 25 000. It wrecked the TAFE sector and paved the way for the skills shortage we are now dealing with. The McGowan government has been fixing the damage, working with industry and equipping workers with job-ready skills, and our investment in the TAFE sector is paying off. We have had the highest-ever record enrolments, the largest TAFE capital works program ever and we have reduced course fees. The training sector has never been in a stronger place than it is under the McGowan Labor government.