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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-11-14 Daily Xml
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JOBEX

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Employment. Can the minister update the chamber on the success of the recent JOBEX?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:46): I thank the honourable member for her question. She is a former and very distinguished minister for employment with an interest in jobs in South Australia. Over this recent weekend, we saw the largest ever employment expo in South Australia's history, JOBEX. The expo was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, which continues to kick massive goals by hosting conferences and expos from around the world.

I must say that when I attended JOBEX on Saturday, it was an absolutely fantastic set-up that was absolutely packed. There were about 120 businesses at JOBEX in Adelaide actively looking to recruit South Australians in industries that we know are creating jobs, such as defence and shipbuilding; health and research; IT and other high-tech areas; energy and mining; and tourism, food and wine. In total, I am informed that in excess of 8,000 people visited the job exhibition across its two days in Adelaide on Friday and Saturday.

I was very pleased to look at a number of the companies that were exhibiting, but in particular I caught up with simulation technology developer Sydac, one of the exhibitors at JOBEX that is actively looking to recruit. The company is focused on the global transportation and defence sectors, employing software engineers, graphics people and mechanical and electrical engineers. Sydac currently employs about 150 people and is looking to immediately fill 10 software engineering positions, with future plans for many more jobs. The company is a great example of the future industries that we will see in South Australia, high-tech jobs within areas such as transport or, indeed, within defence industries.

Sydac has been involved in some massive projects around the globe. It has been involved in Indian Railways, where it is currently delivering a $30 million contract to supply Indian Railways with 12 driver training centres, including more than 80 simulators. Crossrail in London is the largest infrastructure project in Europe, worth about $US26 billion, and Sydac's simulators have been critical to training drivers to enable this huge project to start moving passengers on time. Shanghai Metro is the largest metro network in the world, I am advised, and Sydac's simulators are being used in their new underground lines 7, 9 and 11.

JOBEX moves to Port Augusta on 20 November and then to Murray Bridge on 23 November. About 1,000 people are expected to attend these regional JOBEXs, with around 40 exhibitors on display to hand out advice on job availability and career pathways. The JOBEX exposition has demonstrated the breadth of opportunities available and is supporting South Australia's transition from traditional industries into future growth sectors. The focus is on emerging sectors such as, as I said, defence and shipbuilding, health and research, IT, and other high-tech industries such as energy, mining and tourism, and food and wine.

In the regional areas, we have partnered with some of the big regional employers in these specific regional areas, as well as companies that want to do more in the regions. For Port Augusta and Murray Bridge events, we have companies like BHP, Cavpower, Discovery Parks, Mighty Kingdom software development company, Nyrstar, SolarReserve, Sundrop Farms, Tesla, Viterra, ZEN Energy, Costa, Thomas Foods and, of course, Zoos South Australia, which are an employer in the Murraylands area. Leading tertiary institutions, our three universities, are also there, helping people who have questions and an interest in educational pathways required to secure some of the jobs of the future.

JOBEX is a free event, but people need to register by going to the JOBEX website. For attendees over the Friday and Saturday just gone in Adelaide, people who had registered were able to gain free public transport to attend. I am pleased that attendees attending the Port Augusta JOBEX, upon registration, can access the free transport from Port Pirie or Whyalla to Port Augusta, and also for the Murray Bridge event people can access free transport to travel from Mannum or Tailem Bend to attend.

I would encourage any South Australian who is interested to go to jobex.sa.gov.au and have a look at what is on offer.

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