A Shorten Labor Government will invest $1.5 million in Holmesglen TAFE’s Chadstone campus to create a simulated construction site to better prepare trades apprentices for the workplace.

The Integrated Building Simulation Centre will simulate a wide range of work scenarios that commonly take place on building sites.
 
The Centre will be funded under Federal Labor’s $100 million Building TAFE for the Future Fund aimed at revitalising TAFE campuses across Australia.
 
Holmesglen TAFE currently provides more than 300 programs to more than 24,000 students and trains the majority of Victoria’s flooring apprentices, glaziers and stonemasons.
 
The construction industry is an intrinsic part of the Victorian economy and Labor wants to ensure apprentices have access to the best possible training and facilities.
 
The new Centre will enable apprentice tradies, supervisors, planners and engineers to better collaborate in order to solve problems.
 
Currently, apprentices undertake training within their own discipline and have little interaction with other trades. This will improve collaboration, communication and planning skills.
 
The Centre will also allow educators to simulate workplace safety scenarios for students to problem solve.
 
The trades training boost will provide Victoria with the highly trained trades apprentices it will need for its share of the 250,000 new affordable homes Labor will build if elected.

Labor’s housing policies will drive residential construction and establish a secure long-term pipeline of investment on the scale required to address the massive shortfall.

We will also make sure one in 10 jobs on Commonwealth priority projects such as this go to an Australian apprentice.
 
Labor plans to restore TAFE as the foundation skills and training provider across the country and is committed to ensuring at least two thirds of all government funding for vocational education will go to TAFE.

A Shorten Labor Government will also waive upfront fees for 100,000 students to attend TAFE and conduct a once in a generation national inquiry into the post-secondary education system within the first 100 days if elected.