The 2025–26 Budget includes initiatives that assist with cost-of-living pressures, support the construction sector to ease housing pressures, and help build a skilled future workforce. The Budget also includes measures to provide additional regulatory supports to safeguard the integrity of the vocational education and training (VET) sector, and to ensure continuity of access to Workforce Australia services for retrenched workers and their partners.
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Budget initiatives
In January 2025, the Government announced its initial response to the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System to address the challenges apprentices are facing.
This Budget is providing $722.8 million in cost-of-living relief for apprentices and their employers, encouraging the growth of the construction workforce needed to help deliver 1.2 million homes over the next five years.
These measures include:
- From 1 July 2025, eligible apprentices can receive up to $10,000 on top of their wages over the duration of their apprenticeship, through the Key Apprentice Program.
- The Australian Apprenticeship Training Support Payment and Priority Hiring Incentive will be extended until 31 December 2025. The incentive provides continued assistance to apprentices and employers in occupations on the 2025 Australian Apprenticeship Priority List.
- The Living Away from Home Allowance and the Disability Australian Apprentice Wage Subsidy will increase from 1 July 2025, providing additional support for some of our most vulnerable apprentices.
- The number of TAFE Centres of Excellence eligible to receive additional funding to fast-track their establishment has been increased.
The Government is also:
- Providing an additional $4.7 million to the Australian Skills Quality Authority, the national regulator for the vocational education and training (VET) sector, to increase the authority's capacity to respond to the fraudulent issuing of VET qualifications.
- Providing $1.9 million for the Defence Skills and Workforce Taskforce. This will extend the operation of a dedicated taskforce within the department, supporting the development of skills and training for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program.
- Investing $1.3 million to extend the Early Access initiative, continuing to provide retrenched workers and their partners immediate access to Workforce Australia provider services, regardless of their eligibility for income support.
- Legislating to limit and regulate the use of non-compete clauses through the Fair Work Act 2009 and remove loopholes in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 that allow anti-competitive ‘no-poach’ and ‘wage-fixing’ arrangements between businesses without the knowledge and agreement of affected workers.
- Designing a national licensing scheme for electrical occupations, aimed at reducing red tape, improving labour mobility and ensuring safety. The Government will work with state and territory governments, unions, and employers to develop the scheme.
- Temporarily reducing the Industry Workforce Training program funding in 2028–29, with no impact on existing projects, creating a saving of $7.9 million.
Employment and Workplace Relations 2025–26 Portfolio Budget Statements
The Employment and Workplace Relations 2025–26 Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS) provides government expenditure estimates for the 2025-26 budget year. The PBS was tabled in Parliament on 25 March 2025.
