Roger Jaensch,Minister for Skills, Training and Workforce Growth
Up-skilling people to work in the State's growing building and construction industry is a priority for the Tasmanian Liberal Government and this is being achieved with the support of industry.
Master Builders and TasTAFE have joined forces to help support training and skills needed for the building and construction sector, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support growth and productivity in the sector through training.
The $9 million 'High Vis Army' initiative seeks to support Tasmania's peak industry associations in developing workforce capability through various training and skills initiatives.
It has been identified that the building and construction workforce will have to grow by more than 25 per cent over the next four years to support planned projects.
Master Builders Tasmania CEO Matthew Pollock says long-term planning is needed to ensure we have the workforce to build the unprecedented pipeline of work ahead of us.
"Our relationship with TasTAFE has already proven itself to be working well and we look forward to expanding and developing it further under the high vis army," he said.
"We look forward to enhancing the coordination between TasTAFE and Master Builders Group Training to support apprentices in the workplace and improve apprentice outcomes and completion rates.
"This is an opportunity for all Tasmanians. We need to build successful and rewarding careers in construction. We need to train an extra 6500 people between now and 2025 to deliver this pipeline of work. This partnership, the support and the high vis army program is here to do that."
The MOU includes delivering several courses in partnership, exploring new training opportunities and working to put new courses on scope.
The organisations have already been working together to jointly deliver the Diploma of Building and Construction and the Certificate IV in Building and Construction.
TasTAFE CEO, Grant Dreher, said TasTAFE was pleased to be formalising its existing strong partnership with Master Builders Tasmania through the MOU.
"We want to be an agile and responsive training provider that is meeting the training needs of industry not just now, but well into the future," Mr Dreher said.
"We want to work with industry to look at the sorts of the skills that are needed to maximise Tasmania's opportunities in building and construction and a range of other industries."
The MOU is a great example of TasTAFE and industry working together to support Tasmania's current and emerging skills needs.
