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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-06 Daily Xml
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Skills Training

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Education, Training and Skills. Can the minister update the house on the future of skills in South Australia?

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (14:58): I thank the member for Playford for his question and for his very genuine interest in skills and training, not just in his electorate but in South Australia more broadly. I was fortunate enough just recently to spend three days with the Premier, other cabinet ministers, the member for Stuart and the member for Giles in Upper Spencer Gulf, where we had the opportunity to speak to employers, industry and local communities about the incredible opportunities that we have at this time before us as a state.

Of course, we know that one of the biggest challenges that we face in terms of trying to capitalise on those opportunities and in terms of trying to make sure we can bring them to fruition is making sure that we have the skilled workforce that we are going to need.

This week South Australia has had some positive news, recording the biggest percentage increase in the nation in the number of new apprentices and trainees. From 1 January to 30 September, the number of government-funded apprentices and trainees increased by 19.2 per cent, which was the highest in the nation. For South Australian government-funded VET activity in the first nine months of last year, student numbers increased by 9.6 per cent, which was 7.9 per cent above the national average. Government-funded students at TAFE SA have increased by 15.4 per cent, while non-government provider numbers also increased by 3.8 per cent.

Of course, it is one thing to get an improvement in those in training, those commencing training; it is a very important thing. We need to grow the pipeline if we are to have the skilled workforce that we need in this state to deliver on all those projects that we have—the frigates, AUKUS, Women's and Children's, Torrens to Darlington, the delivery of a second year of preschool, three-year-old preschool—but of course what we know that we need, particularly in a state the size of ours, is to make sure that we are getting that growth in the areas that we really need it. On that topic, I am pleased to advise the house that the biggest growth in enrolments were in engineering and related technologies, which was up by 12 per cent; architecture and building, up 6.9 per cent; education, up 54.5 per cent; and IT, up 67 per cent, which is fantastic news.

Of course, we have forecast this week—it was just a couple of days ago that I was pleased to release a new skills plan or a skills policy for the state to make sure that we have a clear guiding document not just for the government but for all those different parts of the skills and training sector in South Australia about where we need to focus our efforts and where we are going to invest that record $2.3 billion of investment over the next five years that we have signed up to with the federal Labor government.

In that vein, we are making sure that we are making some tough decisions. We are making sure that we focus our efforts, that we invest that $2.3 billion in the areas that we are really going to need it, in those sections of the workforce that we need to grow to deliver on projects like AUKUS, building the frigates, hydrogen, three-year-old preschool, Women's and Children's, Torrens to Darlington—all these huge projects. We need to make sure that we are strong and that we have the support of the sector behind us when we make those decisions around where we invest taxpayers' dollars to make sure that the whole state can benefit from these incredible opportunities.

I think the data that has been released this week shows that we are on the way to making sure that we get sustainable growth in vocational training in South Australia in the areas that we are going to need to deliver on the unprecedented opportunities that are in front of us as a state at this time.

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