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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-30 Daily Xml
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WorkReady

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills a question about WorkReady.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The technology for broadacre agriculture is rapidly advancing, as are the costs and safety risks to each business. Visiting a modern farm, it would not be unusual to see a front-end loader, a tractor, chemical application equipment, telehandlers, harvesters and silos that require working at heights and in enclosed confined working spaces. So, these days the skills required to work safely and efficiently on a farm are incredibly sophisticated.

My question is: is the minister comfortable with her decision to cancel funding for regional training places in broadacre agriculture, thus making training in these sophisticated skills inaccessible for many farmers and potentially leading to workplace accidents?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:47): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. In fact, I have already provided an answer to this today, certainly in relation to other information I have put on the record. As I have said, agriculture is an extremely important area for this government.

As I have indicated here, we undertook extensive modelling, which TASC did for us, and according to that modelling it found that demand for skilled workers in key agriculture, food and fisheries occupations, as I said, requires the completion of 2,500 to 5,000 relevant VET courses over the next five years (that is actually 2017-18) or between 500 and 1,000 completions a year.

So, taking into account modelling by the Training and Skills Commission, current take-up rates and completions, we are in fact on target to ensure that the industry demand for skilled workers in these key areas is going to be met over the five years to 2017-18. Since the 1 July 2012 commencement of Skills for All, 5,200 qualifications have been issued for these courses, or approximately 1,700 per year, in publicly subsidised training alone. In addition, there are currently 8,500 training accounts open, with students undertaking training in these areas.

For the relevant agriculture, food and fisheries VET courses which are undertaken through training contracts in the second half of 2015, there is an unlimited number of subsidised training places for that trade-related training. I stress again: for relevant agriculture, food and fisheries VET courses which are undertaken through training contracts, in the second part of 2015 there is an unlimited number of subsidised training places for trade-related training. These can be undertaken through either TAFE or non-TAFE providers. As I said, they are unlimited.

For courses outside the on-demand training courses for 2015-16, it is estimated that the government will subsidise at least 2,000 new subsidised training places for VET courses that support the agriculture, food and fisheries sector, and the majority of these, as we know, will go to TAFE SA. For non-TAFE SA providers, additional training places may be available through the Jobs First employment program, in particular, and that is a submission-based element of WorkReady that will fund training courses and tailor employment projects where there is a direct connection to jobs.

As I have said in this place, we do our modelling very carefully. The supply and demand is clearly important to us, and we monitor this to make sure that we are able to anticipate the labour force needs immediately and into the future, plan our subsidised training activities and focus on those activities accordingly. We believe we have done this very carefully with the assistance of TASC. As I have indicated, we continue to monitor this, we continue to check and recheck with industry to make sure that we have it right and, if there are any unplanned outcomes or unanticipated outcomes, we can be prepared for that and make adjustments accordingly.

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