June 13th, 2023Free rego for apprentices

The state government says it’s 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 last week 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 wasintroduced in 2016 to reduce costsfor 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 shortterm 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.