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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-26 Daily Xml
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Skills Training

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Innovation and Skills. Can the minister update the house on how the state government is delivering an improved training system in remote regions?

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (14:55): I thank the member for Flinders for his interest and his commitment to skilled jobs in his electorate. As we all know, because I have spoken about it in this place before, there is $200 million extra in skills funding over the next four years. There is $100 million from the state government and $100 million from our friends in Canberra to remove barriers for skilling in South Australia, for companies to bring enablers in.

The latest announcement we launched in partnership with Iluka Resources just last week. Iluka Resources will upskill their staff at the Jacinth-Ambrosia site, which is the world's largest zircon mine. It is approximately 800 kilometres north-west of Adelaide. You don't get much more remote than that. The project is part of Iluka Resources' workforce plan to improve performance and retention rates.

The Skilling South Australia program is delivering a Certificate III in Resource Processing for 35 participants. We are using TAFE, the staff at Regency Park, and the group training organisation MEGT, who will be the employers of the 35 staff who will be hosted at the Iluka mine. They will be employed on the site on the Far West Coast of South Australia. Around half the participants are identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

I was very pleased when I visited TAFE SA at Regency last week to meet a young Aboriginal woman, Jessica Berry, who is very excited about the opportunity to gain additional skills in this growing industry, this tremendous opportunity that is happening in her region. She is a Ceduna woman who is very excited about the prospects of her career now taking off by getting additional qualifications.

It will enable the company to provide professional development opportunities to employees from remote communities in another great example of the government and industry working together to deliver training that is required to fix South Australia's skills shortage, to align South Australians to learn the skills that industry needs for their industries to grow and, of course, generate more jobs in South Australia. This project is one of 90 Skilling South Australia projects, all bespoke designed. There is no such thing as one size fits all under the Skilling South Australia program. We have spent $17 million so far on bespoke projects. This one was $102,000 and, of course, we are getting results.

In the first year of the national partnership with the federal government, there have been 13,000 new training commencements. Of course, our change in direction since the election was vindicated by the latest NCVER figures released just a couple of weeks ago, with a 28.8 per cent increase in the number of apprentices and trainees in South Australia for the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year—the legacy that was left by those opposite.

Of course, we are ensuring that South Australians have access to the right training now so they are ready to step into the jobs for today and enjoy rewarding careers into the future, just like Jessica Berry.

Mr Patterson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is called to order. The member for Wright.

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