Interview with Patrick Doran and Ravyn Bell – Sea FM Devonport
PATRICK DORAN, HOST: This is Sea FM’s Paddy and Ravyn for Breakfast. And joining us in the studio today, we have Senator Anne Urquhart and Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles. Welcome to the show and thank you for joining us today.
THE HON ANDREW GILES MP, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: It's great to be with you guys and always great to be with my mate, Anne, on the beautiful Northwest Coast.
SENATOR ANNE URQUHART: Fantastic. It is great to be here and it's lovely to have Andrew in our territory.
DORAN: That was my first question. What brings you to the Northwest Coast today?
GILES: Well, very exciting news, of course. I'm always happy to come back to this beautiful part of Tassie, but I'm particularly pleased today because we're announcing a really important commitment for local jobs. $27.2 million investment jointly with the Tasmanian Government around a Centre of Excellence in clean energy skills in Burnie. So, we'll be down there shortly making the formal announcement, recognising that this is a huge opportunity for young people in this region to get skills they want in areas we need to have good, secure jobs and stay local.
URQUHART: And I think it's a really important area having that in this part of the state. We have emerging energy sort of area right around here with a lot of wind farms and the potential for more. And we've got to have people with the skills that can actually get up and fix them and do the sort of things that are needed to do with the maintenance and a whole range of things. So, it's just really fantastic that Burnie is now going to be that Centre of Excellence. I'm really chuffed about it.
DORAN: So, how long did this take to get off the ground, this one?
GILES: Well, there's probably a couple of things to say on that, Paddy. Firstly, I want to acknowledge that Anne has been an absolute champion of TAFE and training in this part of world and generally, well, forever, really, particularly since I've been working in government with her. We know that when we came into Office nearly three years ago, we'd seen $3 billion ripped out of TAFE and training. We had a huge skills shortage, the worst in 50 years. So, I've been really focused on rebuilding our skills and particularly TAFE. We've seen great investments here in Devonport, but this one is about seizing the opportunities of the future. Making sure that the unique advantages Tasmania has when it comes to renewable energy can be fully realised to the benefit of Tasmanians. So, it's recognising that skills are changing. So, we're bringing together the TAFE industry, the university and of course, workers and their representatives to make sure that everyone can access those skills, particularly in a part of the world like this. So, there'll be a big accommodation facility there. Recognising that not everyone will be living in Burnie, but everyone will be able to access these.
RAVYN BELL, HOST: That's so important to have. Can you run us through a few of the features of this centre?
GILES: Yeah, sure. So, what we're doing is firstly bringing together these partners so that we can make sure that the skills that people are getting today can evolve as industry evolves, in hydro, in offshore wind, in all of these areas that are so critically important, because we know that trades are changing, particularly as our economy is electrifying broadly, as we move towards net zero, our shared commitments there. It's about also supporting people in careers, understanding that as skills are changing, so are jobs, and young people and maybe some older workers too can benefit from a bit of help about how they can access the sort of good, secure job that they can really build a good life in this part of the world around. I talked about accommodation because we know that for people in regional Australia, that's been a huge barrier to accessing further study.
BELL: Yes, absolutely.
GILES: And I think in this part of Tasmania, really all of Tassie, outside Launnie and Hobart, that's been a historical challenge. So, investing in a 25-unit accommodation facility will enable people to come and not have those barriers to accessing skills. So, these are just some of the things we're doing. Recognising - this is going to be a bit of a journey because we know that these jobs are changing all of the time. The challenge is making sure that workers get to be part of that journey and to benefit from it.
DORAN: Yeah, it's a massive announcement. What's the timeline like in terms of getting this up off the ground?
GILES: Well, we're hitting the ground running. We've been working on this again with the Tasmanian Government and TasTAFE for a while. In a couple of hours, we'll be doing the formal opening, and we really want to get running. Obviously, some of the construction work won't happen overnight, but this is something that is absolutely urgent. As I say, we inherited a really shocking skills crisis and we've invested in that, particularly through Free TAFE. 6000 Tasmanians have seen the benefit of that. I heard an ad just before Anne and I came on, when I bought my coffee in Burnie, there was an ad too. So, you know, we know there's huge demand in Tasmania to access the sort of skills that TAFE provides. We want to really incentivise that.
URQUHART: I think there's a lot of young people all across the coast and certainly down the west coast in King Island who look at TAFE as an option. I went to TAFE. I love TAFE. I think it's a great opportunity for kids who don't want to go on to university but to actually have a career and something that, you know, is hands on and tangible that they can do. And I think this opportunity gives them, you know, the scope of the world at their hands, really, because it gives them the opportunity to train, but also from those distances such as Smithton, Queenstown, King Island – excuse me – the opportunity to stay where they study. And that just makes such a difference.
DORAN: Yeah. And that's so important, especially with the way that we're transitioning away and into renewable energy. This is an area that hopefully in the future there's going to be a lot of jobs in the future as well. So, this is the perfect opportunity of people to kind of hit the ground running in terms of the training that they may need in 10 years’ time.
URQUHART: That's right, yeah.
GILES: I mean jobs, particularly around all the trades associated with electro-technology. We need so many.
DORAN: Yeah.
GILES: And so many of these jobs aren't located in the centre of Sydney in the region. So, it's a great opportunity to enable people to gain skills and use them along the Northwest Coast.
DORAN: Yeah. Wow. Well, it's an amazing development that you've just shared with us. 13.2 million through National Skills Agreement funding matched by the Rockliff government. An additional 800,000 will be allocated through the Albanese government's turbocharging TAFE Centres for Excellence initiatives. So, there's a few things that you have announced over the last 24 hours. And so that's it for you on the Northwest Coast and now you're headed off to Launnie and elsewhere.
GILES: Yeah, yeah. So, my heart's obviously here with Anne in Devonport and Bernie. This is a really big announcement, big announcement for these communities, but I think for all of Tassie too.
URQUHART: Absolutely.
GILES: Recognising that Tasmania's got some really unique opportunities here, but we've got to make sure we do everything possible so that young Tasmanians and older Tasmanians too can get the skills they want in these areas we need. Get great secure jobs out of it. But right around the state there's so much more we can be doing to sign up people to apprenticeships. Recognising again, because of the regional nature of Tasmania, things that we've just left hanging for too long. The Living Away from Home Allowance for an apprentice hadn't been increased for two decades. That's a much bigger issue here than most other parts of the country. We want to incentivise people. We've been talking about electro-technology and how many more electricians we need. That's why we've introduced the new apprentice incentive, New Energy Apprentice Incentive program, $10,000 incentive to encourage people into these trades. We're doing similar things in construction too, because we know there are great jobs here. We also know with cost-of-living pressures, people need a little bit of help. So, this is what I'm going to be talking about while I'm in Tassie. Rebuilding our training system so that it works for Tasmanians. And I can tell you another thing about that, that that there is no stronger champion of this than Anne Urquhart, who twists my arm on a regular basis to make sure that this part of the world gets its fair share and a little bit more.
DORAN: Is that right, Anne?
URQUHART: I think I twisted the right way on this one because this Centre of Excellence is the only TAFE Centre of Excellence under the NSA being established in Tasmania.
BELL: Wow.
URQUHART: So, I am really excited about this being here in Burnie.
DORAN: Yeah, for sure.
URQUHART: Because I think it does open up doors for kids right along the coast here and across to King Island, but also other areas, regional areas of Tasmania that, where, you know, kids can come do their training, live on site and actually get the experience to then go out into the field and do the work that they really want to do. So, I am really excited that this has been chosen to be in right here in Braddon.
DORAN: Yeah. Well, perfect. Thank you for joining us on the show to have a chat about this. It's a pleasure to have Senator Anne Urquhart and Andrew Giles, Minister for Skills and Training. And good luck over the next couple of hours and have fun in your travels in Tasmania.
URQUHART: Thanks for having us.
GILES: Thank you so much.
DORAN: Thank you.