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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-26 Daily Xml
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SA WORKS CHEESE INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education. How is the government supporting South Australia's burgeoning cheese industry in the areas of skill development and career pathways?

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:01): The government is offering support to the industry through the Cheese Industry Partnership Program. As the former convenor of the Premier's Food Council and one who has had some exposure to the industry and its chief players and some understanding of its aspirations for growth, I can understand the excitement with which the industry has received this initiative. The spin-off benefits for the dairy industry are also potentially significant.

Fundamentally, this program is designed to promote best practice for cheese making and improve industry skills by ensuring South Australian cheese makers receive exposure to the best of international expertise. I think this is a topic of some interest to those sitting on the opposition benches, given that the dairy industry figures significantly in the micro economies of their electorates.

The SA Works Cheese Industry Partnership Program is a joint project between the state government and industry to boost the skills of more than 100 specialist cheese makers and cheese industry workers, and 30 new industry recruits. Both the cheese industry and government have thrown considerable weight behind the program. The state government is committing $298,300 towards the project, with an additional $328,000 to be provided by industry—so it is very much a joint project.

Ms Kris Lloyd from Woodside Cheese Wrights in the Adelaide Hills (and I am sure a lot of the members of the house have called into Kris's venture), who is Chair of Cheese SA and Director of CheeseFest, has told us that the program demonstrates that the government recognises the value of this fabulous high-quality, regional-based, growing food industry here in South Australia. This figure may be of some interest and probably some surprise. Cheese is the highest value-added product of the dairy industry, with local sales in 2007-08 valued at $1.04 billion. That is quite a significant figure.

However, the industry is facing a variety of workforce challenges in attracting suitably qualified workers. Many cheese makers cannot keep up with the demand and cannot source adequately skilled staff. I know that there are a number of significantly positioned cheese makers facing this particular issue. The flow-on effect of that is that people producing milk are actually not getting it into our cheese factories. This is a genuine skill shortage area. Currently, the only specialist cheese skilled development program available in South Australia is a five day course delivered at TAFE's Regency campus.

In closing, it is the intention of all those involved that this flow into a proposition which ultimately will attract international students to South Australia and increase the number of foreign students coming into this state.

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