The Andrews Labor Government is backing Victoria’s hard-working apprentices, helping to ease cost of living pressures by making vehicle registration free for eligible apprentices from next month.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne today visited the Kangan Institute in Broadmeadows to meet apprentices who will be eligible for free vehicle registration from 1 July, saving them up to $865 every year.

The $10 million initiative is being delivered in the Victorian Budget 2023/24 to put more money back in Victorian apprentices’ pockets – and will provide free registration to apprentices like carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians and chefs if their employer can verify that their vehicle is an essential part of their work.

The initiative adds to a number of measures the Labor Government has already introduced to ease financial pressure for trainees and apprentices across the state.

Apprentices who need their car for work are already entitled to a 50 per cent discount on their vehicle’s registration fee as part of the Labor Government’s Trade Apprentice Registration Discount scheme – with over 12,000 apprentices and trainees currently taking advantage of the discount.

The scheme was introduced in 2016 to reduce costs for trade apprentices needing to use their own vehicle for work purposes, and expanded to border communities earlier in the year – giving apprentices who live in Victoria but work in New South Wales and South Australia the same savings as those who live and work in Victoria.

The Government has also made car registration more budget-friendly by introducing short-term registration, allowing Victorian families to split the cost of rego fees into smaller payments.

Learner and probationary licences and online testing are now also free, while drivers who have not incurred demerit points or committed road safety offences in the three years prior to their licence expiring benefit from the reintroduction of a 25 per cent discount on their licence renewal.

Eligible apprentices can apply for the free vehicle registration via the myVicRoads portal on the VicRoads website.