The Government has invested billions of dollars in its economic and social recovery agenda, with a focus on getting people back to work.
Government priorities are creating job opportunities across a wide range of sectors including social housing, health, early education, infrastructure, tourism, clean energy, school building and in re-orienting services that are key in responding to recommendations of Royal Commissions into mental health, aged care and domestic and family violence.
Key investments in training and skills will support the jobs target. These include expanding opportunities for apprentices and trainees through Victoria’s Big Build, supporting the TAFE system to help more Victorians reskill, upskill and find work. It will also support the development of skills for emerging industries, including a new Clean Economy Workforce Capacity Building Fund.
Care Economy
The healthcare and community services sector, the ‘care economy’, is one of the fastest growing sectors in Victoria.
As more healthcare jobs become available, delivering the pipeline of skilled workers becomes even more important. The Government has added relevant courses to the Free TAFE initiative to boost the number of workers qualified to work in the sector.
Certificate IV Mental Health Peer Work was added to Free TAFE in mid-2020, leading to an increase in people joining the sector.
Construction
The Government recently announced $5.3 billion in spending on new and refurbished public housing, estimated to create around 10,000 jobs a year for the next four years.
Across the broader construction sector, $33 million Big Build Apprenticeships will provide 1,500 opportunities for apprentices across Victoria.
Case study
Nursing ambition realised through TAFE
Elise Stewart demonstrates that having a disability shouldn’t prevent anyone from achieving their goals. Initially Elise was told she couldn’t become a nurse because she is profoundly deaf and could put patients at risk.
Through resilience and determination, she became the first deaf person to complete a Diploma of Nursing at Bendigo TAFE.
To accomplish this Elise accessed full-time interpreters, lobbied to have electronic materials subtitled, and worked with an audiologist to have equipment amplified so she could hear bodily sounds. Elise’s inspiring work helped to break down the communication barriers for teachers, peers and patients, and her current workplace now has deafness awareness training.
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