The Coalition announced in the federal budget last week that it would spend $523.3 million over five years to provide a suite of funding initiatives, aimed at addressing the skills shortage experienced across the country.

Some of the key investments are to establish 10 industry training hubs to support school-based VET, streamline incentives program for employers, establish a National Skills Commission that will develop efficient pricing for training, and skill shortage payments for employers and apprentices in the top 10 occupations experiencing skill shortages, to support 80,000 new commencements.

Last year The Examiner's Pick Up The Tools campaign highlighted the need to better fund TasTAFE to help address the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the state.

The federal government's announcement is a step towards restoring TasTAFE through substantial and specific funding, instead of national funding being dished to states to determine how and where to spend the cash to educate tradespeople.

But it isn't the only offer on the table.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has promised to provide additional apprentice incentives in areas of skill shortages, which the party says will reverse the decline that has occurred under the Liberals.

Federal Labor has also promised to enable 100,000 students across Australia to go to TAFE without upfront fees, invest $200 million to rebuild and upgrade TAFE campuses nationwide, support 10,000 people to do a pre-apprentice program to prepare them for work, and guarantee at least two out of three dollars of public funding goes to public TAFE.

From whichever side of the fence you sit, it's clear that vocational education needs to be supported because we are already experiencing the after-effects of what happens when targeted investment isn't there.