Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Education and Training
Skills Week 2019 recognises the importance that vocational education plays in the productivity of our economy and in providing opportunities for young job seekers.
The Hodgman majority Liberal Government knows that an apprenticeship or traineeship is one of the most meaningful ways for young people to earn while they learn, and for employers to develop their own workforce.
That's why this year alone we are investing more than $100 million to provide a pathway into meaningful employment for young Tasmanians.
We are investing in training in industries where we know the demand for a skilled Tasmanian workforce is, including health, community and social services, tourism and hospitality, and building and construction.
Through the release of Infrastructure Tasmania's Project Pipeline, we are providing certainty to our building and construction businesses to have the confidence to further invest in a skilled workforce.
Since 2015 we have increased recurrent funding to TasTAFE from $73.5 million to $77.8 million a year, or approximately 80 per cent of the state's training budget.
Importantly, most students at TasTAFE have 95 per cent of their course costs paid by the government and our concession policy means that 47 per cent of TasTAFE students pay on average $350 or less in course fees each year.
Our training system continues to breed success, including local cabinetmaker Joshua Boon, who is currently in Russia as part of the Australia's Skillaroos team competing at WorldSkills 2019, following from his gold medal win at the National WorldSkills competition in June 2018.
Through our ongoing commitment to industry we will continue investing and supporting a system of VET that is nation leading and, importantly, meeting the needs of businesses and learners.
