Labor will today release its full skills policy which includes an extra 36,000 TAFE and training places by 2009.

These new places will ease the skills crisis confronting key industries and give more Australians the chance to learn a trade.

Labor’s extra places will deliver more mechanics, plumbers, child care and aged care workers, fitters and turners, electricians and other skilled workers that Australia desperately needs.

This commitment will give tens of thousands more Australians the chance to get a TAFE or training qualification.

That means a more secure future for those who would otherwise have missed out on a TAFE or training place. Australians without a TAFE or university qualification are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as those with further training.

Labor will allocate 30,000 of these places to the states according their share of population and the remaining 6,000 places will be distributed on the basis of skill shortages and local demand. The following table sets out the increases for each state.

The Howard Government will not fund any new TAFE places even though thousands of students miss out on a TAFE place every year.

After implementing cuts to TAFE in real terms since 1997, the Government has a promise for 24 privately run technical colleges that will charge upfront fees and aims to have only 7,000 students in undisclosed locations after 2008.

It is a tragic waste of talent that around 15,000 young Australians missed out on a TAFE place last year because of inadequate funding from the Howard Government.

Australia needs more skilled workers to fill existing and future skills shortages and remain internationally competitive.

Labor’s skills policy provides the TAFE and training places needed to meet this challenge.