The successes in Rebuild with TAFE reflect years of sustained effort by members across the country. Permanent Free TAFE is now law. At least 70 per cent of federal vocational education funding is guaranteed for TAFE. More than 742,000 students have enrolled through Free TAFE since the program began, and industrial relations reform has delivered more secure employment and improved collective bargaining rights for thousands of TAFE workers.
But there is still significant ground to cover. The current National Skills Agreement expires at the end of 2028. The Fee-Free TAFE Skills Agreement expires earlier, on 30 June 2027, and the next federal election must be held by May 2028. The next 12 to 24 months is the window to build the evidence, sharpen demands, and ensure TAFE is front and centre when governments sit down to negotiate the next agreement.
The current campaign focus — workforce renewal, equity in access, and capital and equipment — is grounded in what members have said. The 2025 State of Our TAFE Survey, drawing on responses from 1,696 TAFE teachers and support staff, documented a workforce under serious strain, with 64 per cent of respondents having considered leaving their job in the past year and 88 per cent knowing a colleague who had already left. Addressing that reality is at the heart of Rebuild with TAFE.
Workforce renewal
We need investment in the people who deliver vocational education. We are calling on Commonwealth, state and territory governments to invest in secure, permanent positions, reduce workloads through better staffing levels and additional support roles, and fund professional learning for the workforce.
Raising the status of the profession is another key aspect of this part of the campaign.
Equity in access
More than 60 per cent of Free TAFE enrolments have been by women, with strong take-up from young Australians, job seekers, people from regional and remote areas, and Aboriginal students and Torres Strait Islander students. That is exactly what the program was designed to do, and it reflects the transformative potential of TAFE when the barriers are removed. Removing fees is only part of the equation. A system that strips out financial barriers while failing to provide adequate wraparound support leaves too many students without a genuine pathway.
We need targeted funding for priority equity cohorts, in-person counselling support for students with complex needs, and full funding for foundation skills and digital literacy programs. Placement poverty also remains a serious barrier, with students undertaking hundreds of hours of unpaid work placements in health, community services, early childhood, and other courses facing real financial hardship. No student should have to abandon their qualification because they cannot afford to complete it.
The introduction of Free TAFE has brought hundreds of thousands of new students into the system, many with complex needs, without a matching investment in the staff required to support them.
"68% of teachers reported an increase in students presenting with additional needs since Free TAFE began, yet 54% said no additional learning and support services had been allocated to meet those needs."
— 2025 State of Our TAFE Survey
In the past two years, 58 per cent of respondents noticed declining student wellbeing and 59 per cent declining student engagement. These numbers tell a story that governments need to hear, and our campaign will keep telling it.
Capital and equipment
In fields where industry moves quickly, like construction, electrotechnology, automotive, aged care, manufacturing, and digital technology, capital investment is intensive. Students cannot be educated to industry standard on equipment that industry no longer uses, and teachers should not be expected to work around it. A Future Made in Australia is impossible if TAFE is using the tools of the past, and this is the focus of a new campaign priority in the months ahead.
To build evidence, the AEU has launched a short, targeted equipment and facilities survey for TAFE division members. It is deliberately focused, asking teachers to describe the state of equipment and facilities at their campus, identify specific gaps, and explain what those gaps mean for their teaching and for students. The questions are open-ended by design, to capture concrete, quotable examples that will go directly into our lobbying and campaign materials.
The more responses we receive, the stronger the case we can make. Survey findings will be used to develop detailed case studies from campuses around the country, putting local stories behind the national data.
National TAFE Symposium
Everything we are doing in the months ahead builds toward the National TAFE Symposium on Thursday 29 October 2026 at the Great Hall, Parliament House in Canberra. The venue is deliberate. Bringing together TAFE teachers and staff, union representatives, government, industry, vocational education experts and community organisations in one of the nation's most significant public spaces makes a statement about what TAFE means to this country and who stands behind it.
Across the day, sessions will consider TAFE workforce development, the future of teaching and learning, TAFE infrastructure, artificial intelligence, Just Transition and TAFE's social contract with the students and communities it serves.
The goal is not simply to make the case for TAFE's value. It is to leave with a clear agenda for action that shapes the National Skills Agreement negotiations and positions TAFE as an essential tool for Australia's future ahead of the next federal election.
"We have shown what is possible when members get behind this campaign, so please continue to complete surveys, share your stories and continue to believe in everything that TAFE can be."
— Conor Siryj
