The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce has warned that proposed additional licensing requirements for employers of apprentices could discourage businesses from taking on trainees, as apprenticeship commencements in Victoria continue to decline.
VACC said the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Bill 2026, now before the Victorian Parliament, would introduce a new employer licensing regime for apprenticeships, requiring annual renewals and expanding enforcement powers for Workforce Inspectorate Victoria.
VACC chief executive Peter Jones (pictured) said the proposed reforms addressed the wrong problem. "You do not solve a skills shortage by making it harder for employers to employ apprentices," Jones said. He said the sector's immediate challenge was encouraging more employers to take on apprentices, rather than adding regulatory requirements.
The proposal follows a reform process the Victorian Government set in motion in 2023, when it established the Apprenticeships Taskforce to examine safety, fairness and regulatory arrangements across the apprenticeship system. In October 2024, the government announced it would accept all recommendations of the Taskforce, either in full or in principle. The Taskforce was chaired by Sharan Burrow AC and included representatives from employers, industry, unions and government.
The government said the changes were intended to improve safety, address harassment, and lift training quality and fairness for Victoria's apprentices. VACC was among the employer and industry groups involved in the Taskforce process, alongside the Australian Industry Group, Master Builders Victoria, Master Plumbers and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
VACC's warning follows national data showing a decline in apprenticeship and traineeship commencements. National Centre for Vocational Education Research figures for the year to December 2025 showed trade apprenticeship commencements fell 11.8%, while non-trade commencements declined 20.8%, according to the Australian Industry Group.
Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox described the decline in Victoria's apprenticeship and traineeship numbers as a warning sign for the state's economy. "New figures on Victoria's apprenticeship and traineeship system are the canary in the coalmine for skills shortages that risk crippling Victoria's economy for the next decade and beyond," Willox said. He said employers valued apprenticeships but increasingly found the cost and complexity of employing them unviable, prompting many to reduce intakes.
Jones said employers already navigate multiple agencies and regulatory requirements across the apprenticeship and employment system, including the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, Apprenticeships Victoria, WorkSafe Victoria, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission. VACC said the proposal would add another licensing layer, modelled on Victoria's labour-hire licensing system, with employers required to renew their licences annually.
VACC also said many of the bill's substantive obligations would be set out in employer standards to be developed separately. The chamber said this could leave businesses facing penalties for requirements that had not yet been fully defined. Jones said the state needed more employers willing to take on apprentices rather than additional regulatory oversight. "Every apprenticeship starts with an employer saying yes. This Bill gives employers another reason to say no," he said.
The bill's compliance implications are directly relevant to brokers advising automotive, construction, engineering and other trade businesses in Victoria that employ apprentices.
The introduction of annual licensing requirements with enforcement powers for Workforce Inspectorate Victoria creates a new compliance obligation alongside the multiple regulatory touchpoints employers already manage. Where substantive employer standards are still to be defined, businesses face uncertainty about what they must do to maintain licence compliance - and VACC's concern that penalties could apply before those standards are finalised creates an employment practices liability exposure that brokers should be aware of when reviewing clients' management liability programmes.
The declining commencement trend carries a separate insurance market implication. A sustained reduction in trade apprenticeship completions produces a skills shortage in the construction and engineering workforce that affects project delivery timelines, subcontractor availability, and ultimately the insurability of projects that depend on qualified tradespeople to maintain safe site conditions and quality standards. Brokers with clients in construction, engineering or facilities management should be tracking this trend as a project risk factor, not only as a workforce planning issue.
