The Coalition has previously opposed fee-free TAFE, voting against legislation to extend it a few days before the election was called.  

With voting tomorrow, local candidates who responded to our calls expressed their views.

Fee-free TAFE was originally introduced in 2023, under the 12-month Skills Agreement. Between January 2023 and June 2024 the federal Government worked with states and territories to deliver 180,000 fee-free TAFE places.

The agreement now falls under the Fee-Free TAFE Skills Agreement (FFTSA). 

Free TAFE is designed to encourage people to undertake education and training in priority areas, such as:  

• Care (aged care, childcare, health care, disability care) 
• Technology and digital 
• Hospitality and tourism 
• Construction 
• Agriculture 
• Sovereign capability  
• VET workforce  

Of the 180,00 places delivered between 2023-4, 35,500 of those were in early childhood education and care, 35,000 in construction, and 131,000 in care and support roles.   

Free TAFE is also designed to help Australians from priority groups, including:  

• First Nations Australians 
• Young people aged 17–24 
• People out of work or receiving income support 
• Unpaid carers 
• People with a disability 
• Women facing economic insecurity  
• Women undertaking study in non-traditional fields 

As of January 2025, Free TAFE enrolments have included 197,700 regional and remote students, 44,400 people with disability and 34,100 First Nations people.  

However there has been criticism around how many courses were made available in regional areas like the western plains.

Nathan Fell, Labor

Labor candidate for Parkes, Nathan Fell, said fee-free TAFE was critical to filling gaps in labour shortages and would ultimately benefit the Western NSW community.   

"In areas like Broken Hill, Bourke, and Walgett, the smaller communities really struggle with tradespeople for things like plumbing, getting wiring done and having air conditioning installed," said Mr Fell.   

"We have a very noticeable skills shortage, and free TAFE is helping to fix that. 

"We've already seen a massive benefit to the community in Parkes, where people have enrolled in more than 4,700 courses.  

Making TAFE free has unlocked opportunities for people all over the region. This is real support for people wanting to attend TAFE who might otherwise not be able to afford it."  

Nationals candidate for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey, says the Coalition does not oppose TAFE, however they see Labor's fee-free program as ineffective.   

"We don’t oppose TAFE, we respect that public training providers have a role to play in our VET system," said Mr Chaffey.    

"We have put forward a positive plan to back Australians who want to learn a trade, build a career, and contribute to our national success.  

"Labor said their Fee-Free TAFE program would fix skills shortages and skill more Australians. But it just has not worked.   

"The problem is Labor’s Fee-Free TAFE program is badly designed and poorly targeted. It has delivered a completion rate of only around 18 per cent."  

Jamie Chaffey, Nationals

The Coalition's plan to tackle skill shortages involves increased support for technical colleges, business and apprentices.

They plan to deliver 12 new national Australian Technical Colleges to increase the number of people doing school-based apprenticeships and traineeships across the country, specifically construction, plumbing, electrical, and other high-demand trades.

Coalition policy also includes incentives to take up apprenticeships, such as a $12,000 payment for small and medium businesses to support the wages of new apprentices and trainees and between $5,000 and $10,000 in incentive payments on top of wages for new apprentices and trainees.  

Maurice Davey, candidate for Parkes with the Family First, said the party did not have a specific policy on free TAFE, but emphasised the importance of education for young people.  

"Reducing the exodus of particularly young people from rural areas is a huge issue. Access to TAFE and University education must be a priority, and affordability is certainly an issue," said Mr Davey.  

Preliminary data from January 2023 to September 2024, shows more than 110,400 students completed Fee-Free TAFE courses.