It certainly looks like Labor is the pick of the parties in...

It certainly looks like Labor is the pick of the parties in terms of boosting the VET sector. Importantly, they clearly acknowledge that the sector has suffered from a lack of funding in the past 2 years, so the pendulum could easily swing back heavily in favour of VET providers. Further, ASH's experience and hard lessons learnt should position them well for any ramp up in spending.

I would however note that Labor was also making noises in 2017/2018 that they wanted to crack down on unscrupulous practices in the labour hire sector. However, these proposals don't appear to form part of Labors current campaign, so it appears that Labor may have backed down in this area. I suspect that the cold response they received from the private sector when this was announced shifted these proposals into the too hard basket.

Overall, I think the Libs should benefit the labour hire business from keeping the economy strong (including significant infra spending) and unemployment low, and Labor should do more to support the VET providers. Either way, as long as whoever wins avoids a recession, ASH shareholders should do fine (and the current price is arguably already factoring in a recession).