REGIONAL SKILLS PROJECTS

• Mining
• Building & Construction
• Tourism & Hospitality
• Retail
• Plastics & Chemicals
• Manufacturing
• Transport & Logistics
• Automotive
• Marine
• Energy Utilities & Electro technology
• Forestry
• Agriculture
• Aerospace
• Engineering

But today, skills shortages are not just felt on an industry by industry basis, they also occur on a region by region basis.  This happens in some areas where a new industry comes to town, such as the Alice to Darwin railway from 2002 to 2004.  It can also happen where an existing industry closes down, and new industries, such as tourism or business services, spring up.  The skills in the old industries are then no longer in demand.

Under the National Skills Shortages Strategy, the Australian Government is funding a number of regional skills pilots to identify and develop practical strategies to address a region's current and future skills needs.  In each pilot, the Australian Government will work with regional stakeholders such as industry, education providers and the broader community to:

• profile existing and potential industries in a region;
• identify common factors and solutions to skills issues;
• engage relevant national, state and local industry and training bodies;
• identify skills and training needs; and
• pilot practical strategies that could be used in other regions.

Pilots have been completed in Townsville, Illawarra and the Hunter.  Since then the Darwin and Tasmania regional projects have commenced, as well as the most recent project targeting the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.

To find out about what's happening in your home town, try these links -

Area Consultative Committees (ACCs) help the Australian Government communicate directly with communities and can provide advice about regional project priorities and activities.

Regional Partnerships brings together the Australian Government’s key regional funding programmes administered by the Department of Transport and Regional Services. If you wish to access funding through Regional Partnerships your local Area Consultative Committee is the best place to start. 

The Department of Transport and Regional Services.

The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal is Australia’s only national foundation dedicated to the needs of rural and regional Australia.  It includes a Small Grants for Small Rural Communities Program, a Rural Education Fund and assistance for the creation of community foundations within communities. The site’s Regional Australia Quick Links guide provides information about other sources of funding relevant to regional needs. 

Farm recruitment – important information for people on the land.

Rural Skills Australia (RSA) provides advice, assistance and training to Australian Apprenticeships Centres, Job Network members and Registered Training Organisations on Rural Australian Apprenticeships.  RSA also provides information and advice to industry on training reforms and Training Packages.

Harvest news and information about harvest labour providers in all states and territories and the National Harvest Trail Information Service.

The Community Regional Industry Skills Program in Victoria is an example of targeted initiatives and funding assistance made available by State and Territory Governments to address skills shortages, and strengthen employment and industries in regional and rural Australia. 

Townsville

The Townsville Skills Shortages report was launched on 27 May 2005 at the Breakwater Marina, Townsville, by the Member for Herbert, the Hon Peter Lindsay MP, representing the Minister for Vocational and Technical Education, the Hon Gary Hardgrave MP. The Townsville Regional Skill Shortages Pilot Project acknowledges that industry in regional Australia can experience unique factors which influence the supply of skilled workers and therefore needs tailored strategies to address those skills needs. The full report from this project can be downloaded in pdf format (447.28KB) here.

Illawarra

The Illawarra project managers have convened a Skills Shortages Taskforce for the Illawarra. The Taskforce has gathered data on the skills needs in the region.  The Illawarra project has an emphasis on engaging industry, and as a result have produced an employer toolkit available for downloading in pdf format:

Fact Sheet 1 - What steps can I take Now?
(pdf 582.28KB)

Fact Sheet 2 - Fast Tracking Apprentices in Engineering Trades  (pdf 553.91KB)

Map of Stakeholders
(pdf 56.29KB)

Case Study
(pdf 1.37MB)

Hunter

The Hunter project managers have also convened a Skills Shortages Taskforce and a report will be produced in the next few months.