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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-28 Daily Xml
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DEFENCE INDUSTRY TRAINING

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education. Can the minister inform the house what the government is doing to improve the standing of South Australia as the nation's defence hub?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:42): As a matter of fact, I can. I would like to thank the honourable member for her question. Nearly 1,200 new training places will soon be available in South Australia's growing defence industry through a $1.7 million combined federal/state funding allocation.

These 1,185 training places will enhance South Australia standing as the nation's defence hub. The training places have become available after the Defence Teaming Centre was successful in the latest round of the Productivity Places Program for Existing Workers. The training places will benefit workers from seven large defence companies and 23 small to medium enterprises working in the defence sector.

As the Premier has told this place before, South Australia has secured about $44 billion worth of defence projects to be rolled out over the next two decades, which will generate sustainable and meaningful jobs and careers, and $8 billion worth of the Royal Australian Navy's new air warfare destroyers will be produced and launched at the Techport Australia site which was opened in February. The 12 next-generation submarines—the largest conventional submarines of their type in the world—will also be constructed at the site. The air warfare destroyer project alone is estimated to deliver more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs and an estimated $1.4 billion to our state over the next 10 years.

Eighteen registered training organisations will deliver the Productivity Places Program training to existing industry workers in several areas including electronics and communications engineering, manufacturing, aviation, project management, business skills and electrical engineering.

The Defence Teaming Centre has been successful in each round of Productivity Places Program to date, with just under a total of 2,000 allocated industry places. The PPP round is worth $32 million, the largest government and industry investment in training committed since the program began. Almost $28 million of the funding has now been allocated for training across the state, with the remainder to be distributed later in the year.

The PPP for Existing Workers is worth about $117 million over four years and will provide 39,000 training places for existing workers across the state by the middle of 2012. The government is investing, as we all know, $194 million over the next six years, which will create 62,000 additional training places which, combined with the PPP delivering 38,000 training places, will bring the total to 100,000 extra training places over the next six years. We have also recently announced a 10 point Skills for All reform agenda, which sets out a blueprint for modernising and renewing the VET system, aimed at significantly increasing the state's skill levels to lift workforce participation and to increase productivity.

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