National TAFE Day is an important opportunity to celebrate our national TAFE system and the training that is critical to numerous industries and sectors.

The Federal member for Blair, Shayne Neumann said it was disappointing that the celebration of TAFE has been overshadowed by skills shortages in key industries and workforces.

“On a day we celebrate the importance of TAFE, we are learning of the cruel impacts of the Morrison Government’s cuts and neglect to the vocational education and training sector,” Mr Neumann said.

“The Committee for Economic Development in Australia (CEDA) report on the aged care workforce highlighted the critical workforce shortage facing the aged care sector over the coming years.

“Over the next decade we face a shortage of at least 110,000 direct aged-care workers unless urgent action is taken to boost the workforce.”

“CEDA Chief Economist Jarrod Ball said, that we “will need at least 17,000 more direct aged-care workers each year in the next decade just to meet basic standards of care”.

“The report reveals this Government has overseen significant cuts to workforce training enrolments, with declining numbers of people seeking to train in this industry.

“That is having an impact on the sector right now and will be devastating over the next decade.”

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research reveals that since the Government came to office, there are over 4,000 fewer Health and Welfare Support Workers and over 3,000 fewer Aged and Disability Carers.

“This is a cut to those coming through the skilled workforce of more than 7,000 potential workers.

“This workforce has been at the frontline of the pandemic and workers are exhausted, overstretched and under resourced to their limit.

“As the harrowing Royal Commission made clear, they lack the resources they need to take care of older Australians.

“All the research and reports confirm what aged care workers, residents and their loved ones are telling us: we need more highly skilled carers and support staff in this sector, not fewer.

“And yet, this is exactly what Scott Morrison and his Government have presided over during their time in office.

“With a cut of $3 billion to the VET sector, we have lost thousands of skilled workers who would otherwise be fully trained or in the pipeline.

“We are living with the consequences those cuts are having on sectors.”