Press conference, Burnie TasTAFE campus
WILL MCSHANE: Good morning. I'm Will McShane, I'm Chief Financial Officer of TasTAFE. So look firstly, on behalf of TasTAFE, I'd like to thank Minister Giles and Minister Ellis for providing the announcement today and for the funding for this initiative under the TAFE Centre of Excellence initiative. We are very excited to be part of this. To be part of delivering, I guess, a new stream for TAFE, for delivering this exciting new program for the north-west of Tasmania. We are very, very grateful to be part of this and to be partnering with industry to deliver outcomes for TasTAFE learners particularly in the clean energy and trade space here in the north-west. Of course we are very, very appreciative of being part of the Ministerial Advisory Council for this.
THE HON FELIX ELLIS MP, TASMANIAN MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: This is such an exciting day for north-west Tasmania; we are a significant region nationally for producing clean energy, and so to do that, we need the workforce to match. By building the workforce for the clean energy sector, we are going to be able to build the future for so many Tasmanians who want to get on the tools, and they want to help to ensure that we have the renewable energy that we need as a state and as a country. If you look at the projects that are coming online here in the north-west in particular but across Tasmania in general, we need thousands more trained electricians, civil contractors, and a range of other trades so that we can ensure that we are building these major renewable energy projects and that we're also helping every day households with the electrification transition. So, this is a really exciting development, the state and the Federal Government working together, match funding to deliver this $27 million Clean Energy Centre of Excellence for north-west Tasmania. It builds on the work that we've already delivered with the Water and Energy Trade Centre of Excellence in southern Tasmania and it will position Tasmania in general to be the Centre of Excellence when it comes to delivering more renewable energy for out state and our country.
The other exciting thing about this partnership is that we will be working closely with industry to ensure that the training is matched with industry needs and industry demands. It will mean that learners who learn at the Centre of Excellence will be coming out with cutting-edge skills and will be able to deliver as job-ready apprentices and graduates so that we can help to build these exciting projects around our state. As I say, it's a wonderful partnership between federal, state governments and also the industry that's really key to delivering for the future of our state. So with that, happy to take questions, or I can hand over to Andrew. Go to you mate.
THE HON ANDREW GILES MP, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks very much, Felix and thanks, Will, for the very generous introduction. I'm really thrilled to be here with everyone, in particular my great mate, Senator Anne Urquhart for a really important announcement. And it was great to meet some apprentices here and talk about their journey, and I was reflecting that my granddad was an electrical fitter apprentice at the Mount Lyell company about 80-something years ago, so I feel very excited to be turning almost a circle when we think about this investment and what it means for the future of North West Tasmania and indeed Australia. This is a $27 million partnership between the Albanese Government and the Rockliff Government. It's all about enhancing some of the extraordinary natural advantages Tasmania has and ensuring that Tasmanian workers, young and old, get all of the benefits of this. This is about, as Minister Ellis just said, ensuring that people get cutting-edge skills and that's really what the Centre of Excellence is all about, bringing together industry, TasTAFE, universities and of course, working people and their understanding to make sure that people get the skills they want in areas we desperately need, recognising of course as this process of electrification is going on, those skills are going to change and we must make sure that the training changes to keep up with that. This is going to give people in north-west coast an opportunity to train close to home, and for others to come to this beautiful region and contribute to its economy as they gain skills that will make an extraordinary difference.
This is fundamentally about a partnership; it's about investing in the future. A recognition around the country that the Albanese Government and state governments like the one here in Tasmania have that we inherited a shocking skills crisis as Australia emerged from the pandemic. And we need to do so much more to help more people gain skills they want in areas they need while getting cost-of-living support. That's what Free TAFE is all about, and fundamentally, that's what this deep investment in the Centre of Excellence for Clean Energy in Burnie is all about, and I've got my friend, Senator Urquhart, will say a little bit more about that from a local perspective.
SENATOR ANNE URQUHART: Thanks Andrew, and look it's really exciting to be here today. So I'm really excited to be here today right in Burnie, I think this is a fantastic announcement, but the thing that really sits in my heart is that part of this announcement is 25 beds, so there will be an accommodation complex with 25 beds, so we will have students from as far west as Circular Head over to King Island, down the West Coast possibly even broader than that across Tasmania that will be able to come and use the Centre of Excellence right here in Burnie, but also know that they can have accommodation that isn't going to cost them the earth to be able to come and do their work, do their training, and provide that facility right here in Burnie, so I think that for me is a really key thing to have right here on the north-west coast. I'm obviously excited about the Centre of Excellence because it will provide that opportunity where right here in on the north-west coast, we do have emerging wind farms, we have emerging clean energy projects right across the north-west coast. We are the hub of the clean energy area, and it is opportunist now that we have this, it's a great opportunity that we now have this Centre of Excellence right here in Burnie for people to come and get that training, but the beds are the really important thing so that people can travel, they can come here, they don't have to travel every day they can come live on campus and actually do their study. So that's what I'm excited about.
IAN JONES: Ian Jones, Chair of Clean Energy Tasmania. My members in this region have about $15 billion worth of projects across wind, solar, network, connector, methanol production, so the announcement today is really exciting for us because workforce is going to be a challenge and if we can start creating our own workforce here that's an absolute bonus. So, the addition of 25 beds, as Senator Urquhart said, is an absolutely outstanding addition to the announcement. This started - I remember having a chat with Minister Ellis some years ago about whether we could do something like this, and to his credit and then working with his federal counterparts, they've been able to come up with an absolutely fantastic facility. We will be training in occupations here that we don't actually even know yet, and we will be using AR, VR and AI for those purposes, and we'll produce the renewable energy technicians of the future. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: So, we spoke about 25 beds. Overall, how many students are we hoping to draw in and attract with this centre?
ELLIS: I might pass to Will if you want to talk more about the particular operational numbers, but just in general this is going to be a significant uplift to our training capability across the north-west, we have seen in the Water and Energy Trade Centre of Excellence in the south, we've doubled our training capacity for electricians in that part of the world so we will be working closely with industry to get the design right around exactly what industry are really looking for, how ambitious our goals need to be. Anne spoke before about a $15 billion pipeline of work, that is a massive number of apprentices and trainees and skill sets to be coming through the door here, so we will continue to work closely with industry on the design, just as we did with our highly successful Freer Farm industry steering committee, and it will really pay dividends.
MCSHANE: With the accommodation, it's 25 beds. It's sorely needed for this campus, particularly as it has no accommodation options for our learners. It is certainly something that all of our trades, whether they're at Freer Farm or whether they're here on this campus, really do require that accommodation to support all of those trades that have people travelling from certainly further up the coast or even down south given this is particularly the Freer Farm, the premium farming asset for TasTAFE to deliver out of.
JOURNALIST: How many students are you expecting to draw in overall with this Centre?
MCSHANE: I probably can't answer that question. I could probably only talk to the actual accommodation itself.
JOURNALIST: So, the accommodation is not tied to the Clean Energy Centre, that's just for the TAFE?
ELLIS: Sure. So we are going to be working closely with industry around design of this commitment, so as we found with Freer Farm, if we are able to work closely with industry at the very start on co-design, we can get the best product for industry, and for learners as well because they're really at the centre. So, the next step now is the close consultation and collaboration with industry so that we get the design right, but certainly, our ambition is to ensure that we can have the workforce to match the ambitious programs of industry going ahead.
JOURNALIST: So what does it actually look like; what is a Clean Energy Centre?
ELLIS: Yeah so, a Clean Energy Centre of Excellence will be the place to get cutting-edge skills if you're involved in the energy sector, so that's obviously electricians, but it's civil contractors and a range of other trades that are involved in it. There will be an investment in a new facility. There will be an investment in a new accommodation, but it's more than that. It's about working closely with industry, investing in cutting-edge equipment and technology so that when our learners are going through their trade, they're learning on the best, most contemporary equipment possible, so those kind of investments will be what we will be seeing as part of this $27 million commitment. It's built infrastructure, but it's also the ways of learning and the equipment that our learners learn on.
JOURNALIST: Is it different to what TAFE already offers?
ELLIS: So it will complement really strongly our Water and Energy Trade Centre of Excellence. So really, Centres of Excellence are about the most cutting-edge training, so that when people are thinking about where they can cite opportunities for cutting-edge technology, investments in the private sector, they'll be able to look to where Centre of Excellences are located and know that the learners coming through there are at the cutting-edge of what is happening in the sector. So really, it's a way of working, it's built infrastructure and it's ensuring that we have the most modern and up‑to‑date technology available to our learners coming through the doors.
JOURNALIST: There's a portion of people here on the north-west coast, and maybe in general, who are quite cynical when it comes to job creation in the renewable sector. Is there a promise being made with this Centre that we will have projects and are the jobs actually available to people?
ELLIS: So, the great thing about Tasmania is we're already delivering it. We're already at net zero. We're already at 100 per cent self-sufficient when it comes to renewable energy in our state. We have been a renewable energy industrial powerhouse in Tasmania for 100 years, but the opportunity is to take it a step further. The next wave of hydro‑industrialisation through pumped hydro, massive new wind projects that are coming online, and we're already seeing those being rolled out around Tasmania. So those kinds of investments are not just a pie-in-the-sky vision. They're things that have been happening in this state for 100 years, and we have real tangible opportunities on the table. As Planning Minister, only two weeks ago, I signed off on the approval for entering into the Major Projects Assessment for the Cellars Hill Wind Farm. That's a $1.5 billion investment; it's also hundreds of jobs in construction and jobs ongoing for the sector. So, when it comes to clean energy, Tasmania is already a powerhouse; it's important that we make it a Centre of Excellence.
JOURNALIST: We've got that $15 billion pipeline in the north-west we were talking about, but we haven't seen anything since 2020 I don't think ‑ Granville Harbour and Cattle Hill maybe. Are we actually any closer to these projects coming online?
ELLIS: Yeah, every day, we move a step closer to a range of different projects, and the other important thing to remember is that we already have massive energy capability here, and we need to keep that pipeline of work going. So, there's a $300 million investment into hydro facilities around the west coast that's happening right now. There's $700 million investment in Tarraleah that's happening right now, these kind of investments are contemporary and we need to ensure that we have the workforce that's available, but I don't know, Minister, do you have anything else to add on renewable energy investment stuff?
THE HON NICK DUIGAN, TASMANIAN MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND RENEWABLES: Look, thank you, I feel like this is a well-worn path, but good morning everybody. Look, Tasmania, as the minister has said, Tasmania is a renewable energy powerhouse. We have been for 100 years, and we will continue to be that. In the future one of the things really to consider I think is our legislated TRET, our target to be 200 per cent renewable by 2040. There are a number of steps that we've got to take to get there, and this is a great foundation in terms of building the workforce that we will need to double our renewable energy capacity in 20 years. So really excited by this, but there are a number of projects that are working their way through the approvals, Marinus Link being one of those and that will be a key enabler to driving investment here in the state. Thank you.