Doorstop interview, Melbourne

MISH EASTMAN, DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR, RMIT UNIVERSITY: It’s my delight and privilege to be hosting Minister Giles here this morning for a really exciting announcement about Free TAFE. In particular, RMIT is so proud of our students and our alumni that are feeding into the care economy, and the great difference that it’s making for pathways and access for students from all sorts of life and work experiences.

So, over to Minister Giles. ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks very much, Mish. It's so good to be back at RMIT with you and with students Ben, Eylul and Stacy who have been talking to us about their experiences, and in a building where, funnily enough, a long time ago, I used to work when it had a very different purpose.

But today we're here to celebrate some fantastic news, the latest national Free TAFE data is out, and it shows us that there have now been 814,151 enrolments in Free TAFE. More than 258,000 courses have now been completed. This is an incredible story.

It’s a story about government actually breaking down barriers to opportunity, enabling Australians right around the country to get skills they want to do the jobs we need. Because that's a really important part of the Free TAFE story. It isn’t just about taking away the challenge of needing that tuition cost.

It’s about sending a clear signal to the community about those jobs we need doing, particularly in the care sector. So, the med students studying to get Individual Support qualifications to work in disability or aged care, jobs that we need to value more, skills that are in demand. And especially to talk to people studying for their Diploma of Nursing, to hear about their experiences in the course and in settings like mental health and aged care is absolutely inspiring, because these numbers are really important.

They are part of the effort the Albanese Government has been engaged in since day one, recognising that we’ve inherited a skills crisis that was the worst in 50 years, a skills crisis that impacted on the cost of living for every Australian, as well as our national growth and productivity prospects. We’ve been turning that around. Every year the number of jobs in shortage has been going down.

Free TAFE has been a huge part of that. So when we talk about these numbers today, we are pleased but not satisfied. There is always more to be done.

Listening to students, listening to institutions like RMIT to make sure we are breaking down every barrier that’s holding back individual Australians from fulfilling their potential and making their contribution, but also making sure we’re doing absolutely everything to support the workforce that can support our national priorities, like building homes for Australians, like meeting our technology and digital challenges, like building a future that really is not only made in Australia but made by Australians, and of course supporting our youngest and oldest Australians, every Australian when they need the healthcare that we should rely on.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions? JOURNALIST: We are constantly hearing about shortages in the care economy, in nursing, in aged care settings.

In terms of the take up of these Free TAFE courses, are you actually getting enough people to then fill the number of vacancies that we're seeing across the country? We’re seeing enormous demand. Now, it varies in different jurisdictions, where different courses are on Free TAFE offer, but we’re seeing huge demand for nursing right across the board.

People who want to become enrolled nurses right away, or people seeking to have a quicker pathway through becoming a registered nurse, and when it comes to the care economy more broadly, Individual Support qualifications as well as qualifications of early childhood education and care are at the very top of demand for Free TAFE. JOURNALIST: What is the rate of enrolment and completion then, going into actual job security?

What we’re seeing from TAFE courses is really fantastic outcomes. The most recent data we have tells us that if you complete a TAFE qualification, VET qualification, you have an average income uplift of $14,000. So what we’re seeing now is people recognising that, seeing the real benefits of this to themselves as well as the economy.

In terms of the take-up, we’re really encouraged by the numbers. 814,000 is a big number. 258,000 completions already is something that we’re really pleased to see, and this is a program that’s really only been running for three years, and these are generally qualifications that take some time to complete, and they’re often completed by people working and studying part time.

JOURNALIST: Does the rate of the take-up of these courses, does it match what the Government is expecting? It's exceeded our expectations, and that's one of the reasons why last year we passed a law to make Free TAFE permanent. It’s pretty disappointing to see all three right wing parties in the Parliament – the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation – oppose Free TAFE to say that people don’t value things they don’t pay for.

I meet plenty of students who tell me exactly the reverse. And now, hundreds of thousands of people who voted with their feet embrace the possibilities of Free TAFE. JOURNALIST: One of the main pressure points we're hearing about is a drop in apprenticeship and training numbers in the construction space, is the government doing enough to actually ensure that we have the workforce there to build all the houses we want to be building?

There is always more to be done. Some of the things that we’ve been doing, making available pre-apprenticeship courses through Free TAFE, so people are fully ready to understand what an apprenticeship takes. We’ve really focused hard on the incentives we provide, for businesses and to apprentices, to make sure that we do everything possible to encourage an apprentice to start and more importantly finish their apprenticeship.

But also, to recognise that for small businesses in particular, we want to make it easy for them to make the choice, to take on an apprentice, to support that next generation of Australian tradies. We’ve made some tough decisions, but particularly in the recent budget, based on evidence, and we're making sure that our investments are really focused on where they’re needed.

We’re seeing encouraging numbers when it comes to construction apprenticeship commencements, and encouraging numbers around completions. The contrast to the former government here couldn’t be more stark, where they spent $7 billion on the BAC and CAC schemes, often delivering no meaningful training, like the notorious Hamburger University which saw subsidies flow to fast food businesses, without delivering any of the training outcomes in areas they need, like building homes.

JOURNALIST: The National Centre for Vocational Education Research showed a five per cent drop in trade apprenticeships in December 2025. How concerning is that drop given there is that goal of building 1.2 million homes? If we look back to the period immediately before the pandemic, we’re seeing trade apprenticeships going up.

We know there is more to do. That’s why we’ve made decisions in the Budget to really focus our supports on those small businesses and on apprenticeships in those areas of need. The Key Apprenticeship Program offering apprentices in trades connected to housing construction $10,000 over the life of their apprenticeship has seen a really great take-up. 32,000 sign-ups in just the first twelve months of that program; 27,000 businesses connected to it.

So, we’re making sure we’re doing absolutely everything possible to encourage more people to get on the tools, to become a tradie, and in particular build more homes for Australians. JOURNALIST: And in terms of the Australians who have taken up these Free TAFE opportunities we’re talking about today, have there been any fields in particular that have shown the most support?

Right across the care economy we’ve seen a really tremendous response. This is an area which too often has been undervalued. And through a range of measures, obviously through the courses on the Free TAFE list, but also supporting the wage outcomes for people in sectors which traditionally have been dominated by women and traditionally have been relatively underpaid like aged care and like early childhood education and care – we’ve seen really strong numbers there in early education and care, and not only in the initial course, the Certificate III, but in the Diploma, recognising the critical importance of those early years.

JOURNALIST: On a separate issue, the Federal Government has made an announcement about universities today. There's been criticism from the Opposition that the Government hasn't mandated a specific definition for Antisemitism at Australian universities. Will the Government consider mandating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of Antisemitism at universities?

We’ve made it very clear that we take a no-tolerance approach to – a zero-tolerance approach, rather – to any form of racist abuse on the university campuses, or indeed anywhere. Antisemitism is of course a particular horror, as well as Islamophobia. These are things that we need to take zero tolerance towards, and we’re requiring definitions be adopted.

Minister Clare made that announcement today. I’m also conscious that there are hearings underway possibly right as we speak into this issue, and are under the aegis of the Royal Commission. JOURNALIST: Should there be a specific definition that is mandated as to be adopted by Australian universities?

We've said that universities should adopt – need to, rather, not should – adopt definitions. I think that's the right approach. JOURNALIST: But not a specific?

That they should adopt definitions. JOURNALIST: And on another topic again, what do you make of a new opinion poll that is showing support for One Nation has fallen for the first time in about four months? Look, like every other politician, I’m not focused so much on the polls, rather than simply doing my job to deliver for Australians.

What I would say, though, is this: I think the more Australians look at the policies that One Nation are offering, the policies that really seem to be common across all three right wing parties, they don’t see answers for Australians. They see a group of people looking for the opportunity to talk about problems, to look for people to blame, not to focus on solutions.

For me, and I think for all of us in the Albanese Labor Government, our focus is not about identifying problems, it’s to work towards solutions, and in particular to make sure that in doing so we’re bringing Australians together. JOURNALIST: And would any of the students like to speak? BEN BAKER, STUDENT: I’m Ben, and I did a Cert III in Individual Support in Aged Care, and a Cert IV in Disability, an NDIS focused program.

They were both six month programs here in the building next door here in Melbourne. I got a job working as a support worker whilst I was still a student just towards the end of it. I couldn't have got that role without having that fast track into the courses.

The provider who brought me in, you know, RMIT being the gold standard, having these qualifications put me immediately in a job I couldn't have gotten, and the experiences. So they were the two courses. It'd be great I think, as a student, to have a continued pathway, Free TAFE, like a lot of other programs like nursing and other trades.

You get to be able to go through a process with an employer. That would be great in the disability space. JOURNALIST: Like a work placement?

That'll be great. Ongoing sort of career development, because participants in the NDIS space, they need it. People are coming in with some great skills which are being sped up by these Free TAFE programs.

But if you’ve got a longer program, you'd get some better skilled, highly skilled people who’ve qualified to see it through and to really grow through the program, as opposed to coming in, stepping in, stepping out. That would be great. So if they can continue the Free TAFE in a pathway course, it would be great.

JOURNALIST: And what difference did it make for you knowing that it was going to be a free qualification that you could access? I couldn't have done it otherwise. I wouldn’t have had the financial means to do it.

And I think that while that may seem great for me from a financial point of view, the help isn't actually for me, it's the participant in the community who gets a better qualified, more highly skilled person to help them immediately. They’re people with some pretty serious mental health challenges or physical challenges to go in. There's also a bunch of people, I come from a mid-career change from a creative background.

So there are a lot of people who come from other industries and skills, and they have a lot to offer. But they don't know the principles and the deep learnings that can be taught by good staff that we've got here at RMIT that can take it from this industry, but you've still got good human, people skills to be through the classroom and in the placements. JOURNALIST: Perfect, thank you.

I guess, to the Minister, would you support better ongoing placements and support training opportunities for someone once they get their qualification? It was wonderful to hear Ben talk about his experience, and I said it earlier, but that numbers don’t really tell the full story about a door that’s been opened thanks to Free TAFE that otherwise would’ve slammed shut.

And as Ben said, it’s not just about his circumstances, it’s about those community members who benefit from the skills that he’s acquired. One of the things we’re looking at at the moment, as we’ve made Free TAFE permanent, is discussions with each of the states and territories who operate our TAFE systems about what exactly should be in those offers now. I’m looking forward to carrying on those conversations and making sure that when it comes to Free TAFE, we make sure that it’s fulfilling its potential, not standing still.

JOURNALIST: And does it do enough at the moment to ensure that once people graduate, there is that support and ongoing professional opportunities? We’re seeing great workplace outcomes from Free TAFE. We’ve had 90-plus per cent progression into the employment outcomes people are seeing.

We can always do better. We can always think about the pathways. One thing that I'm really conscious more broadly is that younger Australians in particular are looking for progression in their career choices.

So one of the things that we need to make sure we’re doing is not simply about Free TAFE, is to make sure people can see a pathway, not simply a job that they may feel that they will be in for the duration of their working life or an extended period of time. To see that pathway to upskill, to reskill, to think about how lifelong learning can help someone navigate a world of work that’s rapidly changing, particularly with the advent of AI.

There’s so much we are doing in this space. I think about the conversations I was having with nursing students about the significance there of Paid Prac, which deals with another one of these issues. So again, it’s about not standing still.

It’s about recognising the world is changing really rapidly, and we need to make sure, in the Australian Government and across the Australian community, we’re doing everything possible to support people to manage these transitions on their own terms, and certainly, I listened really carefully to what Ben had to say, and it will inform my work going forward.