The Coalition wants to kill free TAFE. Here's what that really means.
The Labor government's free TAFE program is in the firing line this election. Labor says its exactly the type of thing Australia needs to fix its skills shortage. The Coalition says it doesn't work. So what gives?
Archie Milligan
April 16, 2025
📚 How we got here
In a recently published video reported on by news.com.au, Coalition education spokesperson Sarah Henderson could be heard telling a room of voters the Labor government’s free TAFE policy “isn’t working”.
“The free TAFE policy isn’t working i’m sorry im trying to be polite”
It’s not a shocking revelation, given:
📌 Peter Dutton voted against free TAFE in February
📌 The Coalition has long opposed Labor’s free TAFE program, saying it doesn’t target skills shortages and costs too much.
💰 How did we end up with free TAFE?
The Labor government introduced a free TAFE program in 2023 it said would help address skills shortages the country has across a range of industries.
The tuition-free training is available in high-demand areas like:
Aged and disability care
Early childhood and support work
Cybersecurity
Construction
📉 A report from Jobs and Skills Australia shows that one in three occupations is currently in shortage, with significant gaps in healthcare, education, construction, and technology.
📊 Is free TAFE working?
Well, depends who you ask.
The Coalition says: Free TAFE has a 13 percent completion rate. That’s according to education spokesperson Sarah Henderson.
It looks like that number is from this Daily Telegraph article, based on early data.
Labor says: There have been 600,000 enrolments and 110,000 completions, putting the rate at just over 18 percent. BUT:
Most courses started in 2023
89 percent of them are Certificate III and above, which can take between six months and three years to finish.
4 in 5 students are part-time.
🧮 Translation: We’re only halfway through a marathon — and critics are saying people didn’t finish.
🧪 Real-world case study: Victoria
Victoria introduced free TAFE in 2019. So… what happened?
53.7 percent completed their qualifications by 2022.
That’s higher than the national university completion rate (around 40 percent)
Some course “non-completions” (like in plumbing) are due to students doing only the units required to get licensed and get working.
🔍 The bottom line
The first national cohort of free TAFE students won’t finish until 2026 or 2027.
That’s when the National Centre for Vocational Education Research will release full completion and unemployment outcomes.
Until then, everyone’s leaning on early numbers and politics — not outcomes.