Training bolstered under $28m federal scheme

The first round of funding under the federal government’s $200 million Critical Skills Investment Fund has been announced, with twelve WA projects set to commence under an initiative that aims to improve access to skilled workers across Australia.

The first $28 million funding round was announced today and with industry contributions boosting that number to $42 million, the projects are set to provide training and up-skilling for more than 7500 workers nationally.

Skills and jobs minister Chris Evans said the projects will provide 1500 new workers to what he referred to as the “critical” industries of construction, infrastructure and renewable energy.

The WA grant recipients include construction company Jpohn Holland, heavy equipment supplier Westrac, the Manufacturing Industry Skills Council and EE-OZ Training Standards.

Resource industry employer group AMMA, which already operates a registered training organisation (RTO), also gained funding to facilitate training projects for its members, primarily in WA.

“Skills development programs for smaller employers can often be more viable and effective when working as a group and AMMA has collaboratively brought these stakeholders together,” AMMA director Minna Knight said of the training for small operators.

“The critical skills funding program requires co-contributions from the industry and provides support and training services to these members who, due to their size, may not have had the opportunity to implement this level of workforce development and training.

“In this case, training is mainly being delivered at supervisory level to develop leadership capability and enhanced productivity in the resource sector. It will strengthen the operational management and productivity of numerous smaller resource companies that contribute so valuably to our national economy.”

Five AMMA member companies will receive funding under the program - Picton based Doral Mineral Sands; East Rockingham’s Doral Fused; Leighton Construction Training Centre; contract miner HWE Iron Ore; and Adelaide’s Uranium One Australia.

Doral Mineral Sands general manager Andrew Templeman said the industry partnership with AMMA has made securing government funding for critical training programs a realistic target for smaller miners.

“We welcome the efforts of AMMA RTO to assist us with advice and preparation of the documents that made this opportunity viable, to support our workforce development,” Mr Templeman said.

“The primary reason for such training is to address the shortfalls in our own leadership skills development and we look forward to working with this partnership.”

AMMA is also using the Critical Skills Investment Fund grant to deliver leadership and surface extraction qualifications for workers at Onslow Salt’s WA project and at Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mine’s site in central WA.