Building on our investment in skills
Skills Connect in action
The Government's skills and participation initiatives are already benefiting hundreds of businesses and thousands of workers.
For example, in April 2012 the Government and Woolworths signed a landmark jobs compact. Under the Fresh Start Agreement, the Government is setting up a one-stop-shop to ensure that Woolworths has streamlined access to the full range of jobs, skills and training services to support, train and up-skill their workers, including:
- Skills Connect, utilising the National Workforce Development Fund;
- employment programs and access to apprenticeship incentives, including indigenous employment and pre-apprenticeship programs; and
- Wage Connect.
This support from the Government will ensure that a diverse range of new and existing workers are able to find a job and improve their skills.
Skills for jobs and growth
The Government is building on its $3 billion investment in skills in the last Budget with an additional $101 million to enhance reforms to vocational education and training (VET) and support the up-skilling and re-skilling of mature age workers.
The Government has now signed the landmark $1.75 billion National Partnership Agreement with the States and Territories, agreeing sweeping reform of the VET system to:
- improve access, through a national entitlement to training and expanded access to HECS-style income contingent loans;
- increase quality and transparency, through greater information about courses, costs and training provider quality on the new My Skills website; and
- promote equity, through additional incentives to improve completion rates, particularly for disadvantaged students.
Through the National Workforce Development Fund, the Government is funding an estimated 130,000 new industry focused training places over five years.
In addition, hundreds of new industry based mentors will support more than 12,000 apprentices over the next year under the Apprenticeship Mentoring Program.
