A Dutton-Littleproud Coalition Government will pay young people completing trades in high school the equivalent of a first-year apprentice’s wage, while 12 new Australian Technical Colleges will be built to turbocharge Australia’s skills pipeline.

Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said the $260 million plan extends to students in apprenticeships, traineeship or completing academic, information technology or business courses that lead to a year 12 certificate.

“Paying students like apprentices to take up trades and skills is a game-changer for young people in Mallee,” Dr Webster said.

“Not enough students are taking up the skills we need to solve the urgent national challenges we face. Under Labor, we have lost 90,000 apprentices and trainees.

“A new national network of Australian Technical Colleges will help skill the next generation of workers we need to build more homes and infrastructure, and our efforts in areas like defence and nuclear energy.”

The new Australian Technical Colleges will mainly be established on high school campuses but also in new locations and in regions with skills shortages, high rates of youth unemployment or with strategically significant businesses.

The policy hearkens to unfinished business from the John Howard prime ministerial era, where just prior to losing office Mr Howard had pledged to open another 100 colleges in 2007.  The then Coalition government had established 28 Australian Technical Colleges from 2004 to 2007.  The then incoming Rudd government shifted its emphasis to TAFE.

Approximately 20,000 of Australia’s 1.6 million secondary school students are currently undertaking school-based apprenticeships – 1.25 per cent – far less than comparable data from other nations. France and Germany, for instance, have up to 50 per cent of their school students taking up critical skills pathways in schools.

TAFE completion rates are around 40-50 per cent whereas technical college completion rates are around 80 to 90 per cent.

Year 12 retention rates have also been falling nationwide, falling from 83.6 per cent of year 7 students completing high school in 2014 to 79.9 per cent in 2024.

The Dutton-Littleproud Coalition has also pledged to give businesses up to $12,000 to take on a trainee or apprentice.  Young Australians who take up training in critical skills areas would also be eligible for up to $10,000 in Commonwealth support.

The Albanese Government has indicated through its Universities Accord that it wants more Australians to be university-educated, with the accord raising to lift the number of university-educated Australians aged 25 to 34 from 45 per cent at present to 55 per cent by 2050.