As our workforce changes and evolves it’s important that we are keeping ahead of the curve by skilling and training our young people to meet demand.
We need to be doing all we can to support local businesses. Equipping young people with the right skills and training is a key part of this and is one of my top priorities for the region.
Recently I had the pleasure of hosting the Shadow Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships and Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Senator Doug Cameron in our community.
Senator Cameron and I received a firsthand look at two businesses in Wild Breads and Cummins Diesel Engineering who are both providing significant job opportunities for local residents.
Both businesses stressed to me the important of giving our young people the right skills and training for them to succeed in the modern workplace.
At Cummins I was fortunate to meet Branch Manager Sean Hill, Northern Region Apprentice Manager Amy Jacobs and Oliver Neville who is a 3rd year apprentice on site. Oliver told me about how much he valued and enjoyed his apprenticeship which gave him the skills to succeed right into the future.
A large part of supporting jobs and apprentices means investing and funding our local TAFE branches to provide young people with the critical education and support they need.
Everybody deserves the best possible start to getting a good job, and I have witnessed the transformational power of TAFE over a long period of time.
Not every student graduating wants to go to university and our TAFE’s provide a vital avenue particularly for young people to become skilled in a trade.
I’ll be continuing to fight for the funding that our TAFE’s need to help our young people with the education they deserve.
As always, if there is every anything I can help with please email me [email protected] or get in touch with my office on 3879 6440.
