Apprenticeships and traineeships

Payroll Tax Rebate Scheme

The Payroll Tax Rebate Scheme provides payroll tax relief to businesses operating in Tasmania that employ apprentices, trainees and youth employees. The Scheme was extended to 30 June 2025 and applies to all new apprentices and trainees employed before that date. The payroll tax rebate is provided for a 2-year period from the date that apprentices and trainees are employed and 1 year from the date that youth employees are employed (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, p. 89).

The estimated cost of Payroll Tax Assistance is $5.588 million in 2025-26 and $3.067 million in 2026-27 (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, p. 87).

Employment

Hamlet

This initiative will provide $1 million funding over 4 years to support Hamlet, which provides training and work-readiness skills to people facing barriers to employment, and to grow the tourism and hospitality workforce (Media release, 7 May 2025; Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, pp. 281 and 283).

Troublesmiths 

$500,000 is allocated over 4 years ($125,000 in 2025-26) to provide ongoing funding to the Troublesmiths program, which supports highly disadvantaged young people to access the services and support that will assist with future engagement with employment and economic participation (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, pp. 282 and 286).

Industry

Tasmanian Clean Energy Centre of Excellence

The Australian government will invest $13.2 million through the National Skills Agreement (NSA), with funding matched by the Tasmanian government to create the Tasmanian Clean Energy Centre of Excellence at TasTAFE's Burnie campus. An additional $800,000 will be allocated through the Australian government's Turbocharging TAFE Centres of Excellence initiative. Features of the centre include:

• redevelopment of an energy trades facility at TasTAFE's Burnie campus
• an electrotechnology trainer strategy that models industry participation in vocational education and training (VET) to support energy qualifications
• a pilot STEM careers hub and Associated Career Awareness Program to foster uptake in STEM careers
• strategies to lift and sustain training rates and access, focusing on rural, regional and remote learners and diverse cohorts
• 25-room student accommodation which will be critical for students travelling from regional and remote areas to study - see the TasTAFE key ongoing deliverables in the Training providers and programs section below for more information about this feature (Media release, 17 February 2025).

National Agreements

In 2025-26, the Australian government will provide estimated funding of $73.3 million to support skills and workforce development services in Tasmania through the NSA and National Partnerships.

National Skills Agreement

Funding from the Australian government under the NSA is estimated at $56.5 million in 2025-26 (Budget paper no. 1: The budget, p. 129).

National Partnerships

The total Skills and Workforce Development National Partnership Payments are estimated to be $16.8 million for 2025-26, comprising:

• Energising Tasmania - $3 million
• Fee Free TAFE - $3 million
• JobTrainer Fund - $5 million
• Skilling Australians Fund - $5 million
• Other (including the TAFE Technology Fund) - $800,000 (Budget paper no. 1: The budget, p. 131).

Training providers and programs

Automotive Training Centre

$450,000 is provided in 2025-26 for planning for the establishment of a fit-for-purpose automotive training centre in Southern Tasmania to ensure TasTAFE can deliver quality training in a safe environment to meet the needs of the automotive industry and learners (Budget paper no. 2 volume 2: Service delivery, p. 98).

Libraries Tasmania 26TEN Communities Program

$125,000 is provided in 2025-26 for the continuation of 26TEN Tasmania: Tasmania's Strategy for Adult Literacy and Numeracy 2016-25. This program provides services to Tasmanian adults to grow functional literacy, numeracy and digital skills (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, pp. 23 and 25).

Skills, Training and Workforce Growth funding

In 2025-26, the revenue from appropriation allocated to Output Group 3.1: Skills and Workforce Growth is $132.495 million (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, p. 291), and the expenses for the output are estimated at $205.568 million (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, p. 296).

TasTAFE

TasTAFE is a not-for-profit government business that operates under the TasTAFE (Skills and Training Business) Act 2021, and it is the largest public VET provider in Tasmania, providing the majority of vocational training for Tasmanian businesses (Budget paper no. 2 volume 2: Service delivery, p. 97). It is estimated that TasTAFE will receive $110.941 million in grant funding and $27.793 million from the sales of goods and services in 2025-26 (Budget paper no. 2 volume 2: Service delivery, p. 99). 

The key ongoing deliverables for TasTAFE are:

• Burnie Student Accommodation: a critical element of the Tasmanian Clean Energy Centre of Excellence, jointly funded with the Australian government through the NSA, this project will transform an existing building into 25 modern studio rooms, ensuring more Tasmanians can take up vocational learning and be supported to do so in the region.
• Facility Upgrades and Transition Fund: this fund and the related Regional TAFE Facilities Development and Transition Fund continue to invest in improvements that include student accommodation in Burnie and Clarence, major upgrades to campuses at Alanvale, Burnie and Devonport, equipment upgrades to ensure students are learning on contemporary and industry-aligned equipment, and additional upgrades to increase access for regional and rural students.
• Student Management System Replacement: the replacement of the system, which is a core piece of information technology infrastructure, is a priority project that will enhance service delivery and will unlock significant opportunity for TasTAFE to become a more efficient and effective organisation into the future (Budget paper no. 2 volume 2: Service delivery, p. 98).

VET Facilities Fund

$19.8 million is allocated over 4 years ($600,000 in 2025-26) to deliver modern, fit-for-purpose VET facilities and industry standard equipment at colleges, secondary schools and trade training centres (Budget paper no. 2 volume 1: Service delivery, pp. 42 and 46).