The government funding

Believe it or not, the state and federal governments have been providing grants that in many cases cover the full cost of training Australian citizens for a number of years. These programs have been utilized by big businesses for years, but it is only recently that small businesses have started to use the funding, and there has never been funding for business owners or casual staff members to complete nationally recognized training.

The current government grant is up to $5000 per student, with small businesses less than 100 employees expected to cover 10% of their training costs, medium businesses less than 199 employees 25% of their training costs and large businesses more than 200 employees 50% of their training costs.

The name of the program is Workforce Development and Productivity Places Program.  You can see more info here.