All Productivity Places information will be moved to the new DEEWR website. Please see the news item below for more information.
Our website is changing
On Wednesday 3 December 2008 the Department will have a new website (www.deewr.gov.au) which is the first step in creating a single publishing and access point for portfolio information. The new design provides a richer source of information and news than our current internet presence. Your feedback is welcome and will help further shape the site in the future.
17 November 2008
Additional Training Places Available to 30 June 2009
In September and October 2008, the Australian Government announced the release of additional training place for job seekers as part of the Productivity Places Program. Information on how and when these places will be allocated is detailed below.
Additional 56 000 places – Announced 14 October 2008
On 14 October the Australian Government announced the release of an additional 56,000 places for job seekers as part of the Productivity Places Program. The additional 56,000 places will be allocated as follows:
- 26,000 places for Certificate II qualifications;
- 20,000 places for Certificate III qualifications (20,000 places, including 10,000 as Structural Adjustment Places); and
- 10,000 places for Certificate IV qualifications.
DEEWR will manage the allocation of the 56,000 additional training places to 30 June 2009. Of these places, 46,000 will be allocated via the Program Information Management System (PIMS). To ensure the 46,000 places are targeted to those in most need, they will be available to a smaller cohort via referral from Employment Service Providers, Access Providers and Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) participants to approved Registered Training Organisations.
To make sure these training places remain available to 30 June 2009, they will be allocated via PIMS on a monthly basis.
The remaining 10,000 places, which are Structural Adjustment Places, are being made available to support displaced workers in the automotive and manufacturing industries as part of structural adjustment processes. These workers will be eligible for significant retraining opportunities to meet skills in demand in growing sectors of the economy. The allocation of these places will be managed by the Department following requests from employers or employee representatives of displaced workers.
Additional 15,000 places – Announced 10 September 2008
The additional 56,000 training places announced on 14 October 2008 are in addition to the 15,000 additional training places at the Certificate III level announced in September 2008.
Of the 15,000 additional places at the Certificate III level announced in September 2008:
- 4,500 places have already been allocated (in September, October and November);
- 1,500 places will be allocated by the Commonwealth in December 2008; and
- the remaining 9,000 places for the period 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009 will be allocated by the state and territory governments.
To ensure these places are targeted to those in most need, they are being made available to a smaller cohort via referral from Employment Service Providers, Access Providers and Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) participants to approved Registered Training Organisations.
To make sure training places remain available to 30 June 2009, the training places will be allocated via PIMS on a monthly basis by State and Territory, based on each State and Territories percentage of working age population.
For more information email productivityplaces@deewr.gov.au.
The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer announce
an additional 56 000 training places
14 October 2008
The Government has today announced the release of an additional 56,000 places for job seekers as part of the Productivity Places Program.
With a slowing economy, the Government is committed to supporting and training job seekers to ensure all those who can benefit from extra help are able to access these places.
Increasing productivity and the skills agenda are central to the Government’s economic platform. These new places will help maintain the momentum the program has generated and provide more skilled labour to meet the needs of industry.
There has been a huge demand for training since the Productivity Places Program began in April, with more than 53,000 job seekers enrolled and over 11,000 having already completed their training in areas of skill shortage.
Almost 1,000 jobseekers who have been referred for training by employment service providers have already obtained jobs. This is an excellent outcome for such a new program.
The new places will be available at Certificate II (26,000 places), Certificate III (20,000 places, including 10,000 as Structural Adjustment Places) and Certificate IV (10,000 places).
The Structural Adjustment places are being made available to support displaced workers in the automotive and manufacturing industries as part of structural adjustment processes. These workers will be eligible for significant retraining opportunities to meet skills in demand in growing sectors of the economy.
These new places will take the Government’s total commitment to the Productivity Places Program to more than $2 billion with more than 700,000 new training places created over five years.
A demand management strategy will be put in place for these new places to ensure the allocation lasts until the end of the 2008-09 financial year. Further details on how these allocations will be made will be determined in the coming days taking into account recent feedback from Registered Training Organisations on previous phases of the program.
A link to the Prime Minister’s media release and a fact sheet on the changes are available below.
Media Release 
10 October 2008
Deputy Prime Minister Announces Additional allocation of Training Places under the Productivity Places Program - Media Release
10 September 2008
Since April 2008 demand for training places for the job seeker component of the Program has been very strong with almost 48 000 enrolments under the Program at 8 September 2008. This is a great result for a Program that has been going for less than six months.
By 10 September 2008, more than 36 200 participants had commenced in training with over 6 000 participants having already completed training and available to take up jobs in areas of skill shortage such as Aged Care, Children’s Services, Security, Hospitality, Retail, Transport and Logistics and Customer Contact.
Due to this strong demand, the total allocation of job seeker training places for Phase I and Phase II have been fully utilised. In order to ensure training places remain available for the remainder of 2008-09, the Government has announced an additional 15 000 job seeker training places at Certificate III level. These places became available from 11 September 2008.
To ensure these places are targeted to those in most need, the additional training places will be available to a smaller cohort via referral from Employment Service Providers, Access Providers and Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) participants to approved Registered Training Organisations.
In order to ensure training places remain available to 30 June 2009, the additional training places are being allocated in the Program Information Management System (PIMS) on a monthly basis by State and Territory, based on working age population.
Fact Sheet 
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Fact Sheet 
(37.2 KB)
As part of its Skilling Australia for the future initiative, the government recognises the importance of nationally endorsed training in assisting job seekers to acquire skills and gain lasting employment and assisting existing workers to update or upgrade their skills.
The government has allocated 645 000 training places over five years to ensure that Australians develop the skills that industry needs. Of the total training places, 253 000 will be allocated to job seekers and 392 000 will be allocated to existing workers.
The training places will be delivered in an industry-driven system, ensuring that training is more responsive to the needs of enterprises and individuals.
The job seeker training places became available from 1 April 2008. Existing worker training places are now available through pilots in some States. These pilots will run to 31 December 2008 or until places are fully utilised. It is anticipated that training places for existing workers will be delivered through States and Territory Government's from 1 January 2009.
More information will be provided on the arrangements for Productivity Places for job seekers and existing workers in the near future.
Organisations wishing to offer approved qualifications under the Productivity Places Program must be able to meet the requirements of the program and submit a Request to Participate. Submissions to offer qualifications to job seekers at Certificate II through to Diploma level can be made through the online system.
Information for people looking for training
If you are looking for training, information on how to apply and details of the eligible qualifications will be updated as it becomes available.