Thousands more Australians would be able to enrol in TAFE courses for free under a proposal to boost the workforce in critical industries.
The federal government's fee-free TAFE program has already fuelled more than 508,000 enrolments, with 130,000 in care, 35,000 in early childhood education and about 5000 in construction.
Now Skills Minister Andrew Giles has introduced a bill that will allow the Commonwealth to provide states and territories funding to deliver even more free TAFE and vocational education and training (VET) places.
Indigenous Australians, women, young people, those out of work, unpaid carers, people with disability and other groups with less access to education are set to benefit the most.
"Free TAFE changes lives and it shapes our future," Mr Giles told the House of Representatives on Thursday.
"This will drive innovation to meet the needs of the economy and help to shape the jobs of the future."
Over the next decade, nine in every 10 new jobs will require post-secondary qualifications and almost half of those will come through VET pathways.
The federal government has committed to funding at least 100,000 free TAFE places every year from 2027.
"It is changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across Australia by improving access to education and training, leading to greater economic participation and building social equity," Mr Giles said.
However, the opposition says the fee-free TAFE program has a low completion rate and has not made a meaningful impact on alleviating skills shortages.
