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AEN Newsletter - 29 August 2025
September
Mastering Constructive Feedback
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Stressing Less, Living More
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Driving Organisational Performance
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Ai Unpacked: What it Means for Life, Work and the Future
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Chairing Productive Meetings
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AI Unpacked 2.0: from Theory to Practice
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2025 AEN & GAN Australia Conference
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Celebrating 40 Years of Impact at the AEN Mid-Year Conference
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This week, over 130 delegates gathered at Hyatt Place, Essendon Fields for the AEN Mid-Year Conference — a special two-day event marking 40 years of our network’s growth, collaboration, and contribution to the industry.
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The conference was a celebration of our shared achievements and a forward-looking exploration of the future of skills, training, and workforce development. Attendees had the opportunity to connect with peers, exchange insights, and hear from an outstanding lineup of speakers representing key organisations across Australia and New Zealand.
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Highlights from the speaker program included:
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- Sukanthan Aravindan – Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
- Alison Wall – Future Skills Organisation
- Emma King, OAM – HumanAbility Ltd
- Ingrid Mountford – BuildSkills Australia
- Josh Williams – GAN New Zealand
- Tim Allen – Microsoft
- Craig Robertson – Victorian Skills Authority
- James Montgomery – Apprenticeships Victoria
- Jarrod Cartwright – Apprenticeship Support Australia
- Megan Lilly – Jobs and Skills Australia
- Cameron Baker – SA Skills Commissioner
- Terry McEvoy – RMIT University
- Franklin O'Carroll – Box Hill Institute
- Liz Jansz – Holmsglen Institute
- Ian Said – Kangan Institute
- Andrew Shea – Tesserent Academy
- Stefanie Veal & Bree Gauci – Victorian Skills Authority
A heartfelt thank you to our MC, Peter Treseder from AustralianSuper, and to all our speakers and supporting partners who helped make this milestone event a resounding success.
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Here’s to the next chapter of innovation, collaboration, and impact!
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Further information about the conference and presentations will be available shortly on the AEN Website.
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Nominations are officially closed for the 2025 Apprentice Training Awards.
We’re thrilled to announce a new record of over 160 nominations - our biggest year yet!
It’s not just the numbers that make this year special though, as this year holds a special significance as we celebrate 40 Years of the AEN supporting apprentices, trainees, and the Group Training network across Victoria. Since 1985, we have remained committed to building a skilled, resilient workforce.
A massive thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate and shine a light on excellence and dedication across the industry.
Judging kicks off soon, and we’re gearing up to showcase this year's incredible talent.
Keep an eye out, ticket sales are just around the corner! You won’t want to miss this celebration.
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Across the country this week there have been plenty of conversations, launch events, inspiring stories and media coverage are celebrating the value of skills, training, and vocational education.
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National Skills Week was founded on four key focus areas:
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- Dispel negative perceptions of vocational education and training (VET)
- Highlight the diversity of career pathways
- Celebrate success stories from across the sector
- Shine a light on emerging skills needs and industry trends.
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This week, these priorities are coming alive through events, panels, stories and media all across the country.
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Skills and Workforce Ministerial Council Communiqué
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Australia’s ministers responsible for skills and workforce development have endorsed major reforms to strengthen apprenticeships and traineeships, ensuring they remain a vital pathway into skilled careers.
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National Code for Australian Apprenticeships and Traineeships strong working relationships between employers and their apprentices or trainees are essential to improving retention and stronger completion outcomes. Skills Ministers endorsed an updated National Code of Good Practice for Australian Apprenticeships and Traineeships, which provides guidance for employers.
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It emphasises the importance of workplace wellbeing and workplace health and safety obligations. It also provides key information regarding mental health, inclusion and diversity in the workplace. The refreshed National Code will be published on apprenticeships.gov.au and will take effect from 1 January 2026.
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It will be accompanied by a library of existing guidance and resources for employers, apprentices, and trainees, compiled across Commonwealth, state, and territory governments.
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Further details will be available shortly.
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Future Apprenticeships and Traineeships Workplan:
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A new national workplan has been launched to:
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- Address critical skills shortages, particularly in trades and emerging industries.
- Modernise apprenticeship and traineeship pathways to better meet the needs of learners and employers.
- Promote inclusive, safe, and supportive environments for all participants.
This workplan is a collaborative effort to ensure apprenticeships remain relevant, accessible, and responsive to Australia’s evolving workforce needs.
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This week the Powering Skills Organisation released their latest Workforce Plan for the sector Net Zero is a top government priority but its success risks being held back by an underprepared and undersupplied labour market.
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Very few workforces have faced such a sharp rise in demand for more workers, new skills and cultural change from such a low starting point in supply as the energy sector is anticipated to face. In response, PSO has developed this Workforce Plan, informed by in-depth consultation, analysis, and modelling. Consequently, this has revealed multiple interconnected crises, spanning workforce shortages, upskilling gaps, and cultural barriers, along with their underlying causes.
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To address these, PSO has proposed a strategic response made up of 31 targeted actions.
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Minister Giles also announced that around 85,000 more electricians are expected to be needed by 2050, 27 per cent more than what we’re currently projecting.
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The challenge for us all is ensuring that we broaden the workforce and leverage its full potential by creating opportunities, and supporting women, First Nations people and other under-represented demographics to ensure they feel welcomed and supported in the sector.
Ongoing upskilling, training and investment in workers will be essential to meeting this challenge.
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Powering Skills Organisation will have a critical role in continuing to grow partnerships as well as training products – that respond to these changing needs and new sectors.
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To that end, the Albanese Government will contribute $20 million towards the establishment of a National Training Centre in New Energy Skills.
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Once built, this will upskill over 2,000 tradespeople and apprentices each year, to be based in western Melbourne and with a national focus.
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The National Training Centre will be delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government and the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre.
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It includes plumbers, gasfitters, and refrigeration workers involved in the installation and maintenance of emerging energy technologies.
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The Government is also investing $35 million for a capital and equipment investment fund to expand clean energy training capacity more broadly.
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This will cover wind, solar, pumped hydro, grid battery storage, electricity networks and hydrogen, as well as key electrical and construction trades.
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Funding will be directed to facilities at capacity that are preventing people from entering apprenticeships, as well as regional, rural and remote communities experiencing workforce transitions.
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New data released this week by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) shows that Australia’s government-funded vocational education and training (VET) sector continues to remain relatively stable, despite fluctuations in student enrolments across states and territories in 2024.
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The 2024 figures suggest a return to more stable, longer-term trends in student enrolments, following a spike in 2023. Overall student enrolments remain higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, indicating ongoing strong engagement with government-funded VET nationwide.
According to the Government-funded students and courses 2024 report, student numbers decreased to 1.2 million in 2024, down 2.6% from the previous year. Despite this overall decline, three states recorded increases: Western Australia rose by 5.2%, Queensland by 2.6% and Victoria by 0.9%. In contrast, the remaining jurisdictions experienced declines: Australian Capital Territory dropped by 16.2%, New South Wales by 9.5%, Northern Territory by 7.8%, Tasmania by 5.5% and South Australia by 0.5%.
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While variation in enrolments across the different types of government-funded training is evident, the number of students enrolled in qualifications – the largest component of government-funded training remained high at 1.07 million in 2024, up from 968,095 in 2019 but down marginally from 2023, following an increase of 7.2% between 2022 and 2023.
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Non-trade apprenticeships were a large contributor to the national decline in government-funded qualification enrolments. Although apprenticeships represent around one third of all qualification enrolments, they accounted for more than half of the overall decrease from 2023.
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This trend is likely linked to the conclusion of key incentive programs and the transition towards state-based priorities and Fee-Free TAFE.
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We are all familiar with the process of receiving and giving feedback but often lack the tools to make it a graceful, constructive, and positive experience. Feedback can be challenging to deliver, but when handled effectively, it fosters growth and contributes to a positive work environment.
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In this engaging workshop, award-winning facilitator Martin Probst will provide you with the skills to confidently lead feedback conversations while minimising push-backs by establishing a feedback-ready culture. You will leave with powerful feedback techniques designed to promote growth and development in yourself and others.
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Date: Tuesday 2 September 2025
Time: 9:00am - 12:00pm
Delivery: Online via Zoom
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Driving organisational performance requires more than just meeting targets – it’s about cultivating a human-centred culture that positively influences every aspect of the organisation. From reputation and customer service to employee motivation and retention, culture is a key driver of success. Strong leadership, rooted in self-awareness, empathy, and accountability, is essential to build a sustainable environment of trust and collaboration.
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In this engaging workshop, leadership expert Martin Probst will equip you with practical tools to embed human-centred leadership within your organisation.
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Date: Tuesday 7 October 2025
Time: 9:00am - 12:00pm
Delivery: Online via Zoom
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Since the program commenced in May 2020, a total of 1,343 participants have been supported to date, with 82% being male and 18% female.
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Apprentices and trainees who have lost employment are encouraged to register.
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Once registered, apprentices and trainees will be assisted by one of our program officers until placed with a host employer through a Group Training Organisation (GTO), or directly with an employer.
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Head on over to GAN Australia and subscribe to the newsletter to be kept up to date with everything that’s happening with GAN Australia and the wider VET sector?
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Thanks to our Industry Partners
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