Skill shortage fear as fees rise

Bunbury Apprentice and Traineeship Company chief executive officer Stan Liaros has criticised the State Government for almost tripling the cost of some TAFE courses, saying it will affect the number of apprentices in the South West.

Mr Liaros said he believed the training price rise could mean fewer South West business owners taking on apprentices.

Under new Fair Work Australia laws, employers have to pay for the first two years of TAFE for their apprentices.

“This alone will have an impact, but coupled with pay increases and TAFE fees now being taken by employers, it will make businesses think twice about hiring apprentices, ” he said.

“I have had feedback from the business community saying there is a fear out there during a time where we clearly need more skilled workers.

“The timing is poor and some other measures should have been looked at.”

Yesterday the South West Institute of Technology was yet to release its fees for training in 2014, despite registration opening today.

SWIT managing director Duncan Anderson said the organisation was not able to post course prices because it was only approved by the State Government last month.

“There are enough concerns with the increase without SWIT adding to the confusion by not posting the right prices, ” he said.

“Fee increases have been decided as necessary by the State Government, so I fully support them.

“New fee structures combined with market pressures and industry requirements will be the judge of future skills.”

Mr Liaros said he thought the fee rises had more to do with political issues than market pressures.

“I don’t see the evidence of market pressures, I see pressures on Government budgets, ” he said.

“Skill shortages and access to vocational training is too critical for them to mess with them.

“It would be an interesting exercise to see where market pressures are coming from and how long they have been occurring.”