The Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System investigated the support available to help more people start and complete apprenticeships and traineeships.
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About the review
The Australian Government has undertaken a review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System (Incentive System).
The Incentive System provides financial support to apprentices, trainees and employers working in priority industries. It is intended to encourage people to start an apprenticeship or traineeship and see it through to completion. This is to ensure Australia has workers with the trade and technical skills needed by industry, providing a secure, well-paid work and career advancement.
Apprenticeship completion rates have been in steady decline over several years. The review investigated how support can be best-placed to increase the completion rate.
Read the final report
The Australian Government has released the final report for the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System - Skills for tomorrow: Shaping the future of Australian apprenticeships.
The report makes 34 recommendations to support high-quality apprenticeships and ensure the Incentives System is effective and responsive to the needs of the labour market, apprentices and government.
Initial response to the Review findings
As an initial response, the Government is making additional investments to:
- Maintain the 2025 Priority List and extend current Australian Apprentice Training Support and Priority Hiring Incentive payment settings by six months until 31 December 2025. This will provide consistency for employers and cost-of-living relief to apprentices in priority occupations during the consultation process.
- Increase the Living Away From Home Allowance from 1 July 2025 so apprentices can meet the costs associated with moving to take up an apprenticeship.
- Increase the Disability Australian Apprentice Wage Support payment from 1 July 2025 to support employers taking on apprentices with disability. Annual review checks for apprentices with permanent disability will also be removed to reduce administrative burden.
- Introduce a new Key Apprenticeship Program with a Housing Construction Apprenticeship stream to help achieve Australia's housing commitments until 30 June 2029. This will also help with cost of living pressures by providing eligible apprentices in high priority construction occupations with up to $10,000 during their apprenticeship.
The Government also introduced a new program on 1 January 2025 providing small and medium businesses with access to subsidised Group Training Organisation (GTO) fees for up to 400 apprentice places, including a 20 per cent target for apprentice women.
These initial investments will respond to the most urgent recommendations of the Review, including ongoing cost-of-living pressures, while Government carefully considers longer-term reforms and consults further with stakeholders.
Read more about the government response
Final report fact sheets
- What We Heard paper
- Overview fact sheet
- Fact sheet for apprentices
- Fact sheet for employers
- Fact sheet for apprentices with disability
- Fact sheet for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse apprentices
- Fact sheet for First Nations apprentices
- Fact sheet for women apprentices in male-dominated trades
- Fact sheet for regional and remote apprentices
Background Paper
The Background Paper summarises the key challenges facing apprenticeships. It is a research document, detailing key evidence and data. It is accompanied by the Provisional Reference List, which is a bibliography of the reviews, research papers, reports and other resources the Strategic Review has considered to date.
Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System – Background paper
Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System – Research reference list
Consultations
Written submissions for the Strategic Review closed on Wednesday 15 May 2024. Thank you to those who provided a written submission. Your insights and ideas have been invaluable to the Review’s work. All public and anonymous submissions are available on our consultation hub.
In addition, findings from the consultations are outlined in the What We Heard paper.
What the review looked at
- How the Incentive System and complementary services are performing in helping the take up and completion of apprenticeships and traineeships.
- The effect that cost-of-living pressures is having on apprentices and trainees.
- How the Apprenticeships System can best support high quality apprenticeships and traineeships, including the roles of government support, workplace conditions and culture, and employers.
- If the current system is creating a training environment encouraging women, First Nations people, people with disability and people in regional, rural and remote communities into apprenticeships and traineeships.
- How the Incentive System can be aligned with the priorities in the 2023 Employment White Paper and the Australian Government’s broader economic objectives.
Download the full Terms of Reference of the review
Further questions and answers about the review are available
Leading the review
The Minister for Skills and Training, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, appointed Justice Iain Ross AO and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM as the reviewers.
Justice Iain Ross AO served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 2012 to 2022, as well as President of the Australian Fair Work Commission (formerly Fair Work Australia) during the same period.
Before his appointment to the Federal Court, he was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Iain was previously an Assistant Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Vice President of the former Australian Industrial Relations Commission, Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission, Chair of the Council of Australasian Tribunals, inaugural Chair of the Mediator Standards Board, a Judge of the County Court of Victoria, and partner of Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2005. Iain holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Laws, a Doctor of Philosophy in Law and a Master of Business Administration.
At the National Manufacturing Forum, Dr Ross delivered a speech about the challenges of the apprenticeship system.
Lisa Paul AO PSM is a former senior Australian public servant and policymaker.
Lisa was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Canberra in January 2024. Lisa was the Secretary of the Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations from 2007 to 2013 and Secretary of the Department of Education and Training from 2014 to 2016. Since these appointments, Lisa has joined various boards of listed and unlisted companies including chairing Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and the role of Director of Social Ventures Australia, and Schools Plus.
Lisa co-chaired the 2023 Independent Review Panel for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Lisa was awarded a Public Service Medal for her work coordinating the Commonwealth’s domestic response to the Bali bombings. In 2011, Lisa was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the public sector leadership in key policy and program implementation.
Lisa is an Alma mater of the Australian National University, where she holds a Bachelor of Arts.
Photo of Lisa Paul AO PSM taken by Tyler Cherry, University of Canberra