Press Conference, Wollongong

ALISON BYRNES, MEMBER FOR CUNNINGHAM: I want to welcome to Wollongong here today, Minister Whan, Minister Giles, Minister Scully and Minister Park for a really exciting event. 

In the lead-up to the 2022 election, the $2.5 million commitment for a renewable energy training centre at TAFE was one of my key election commitments, along with the $10 million commitment for the Energy Future Skills Centre at the University of Wollongong. 

But even I could not have envisaged just how amazing these classrooms and mobile vans would turn out. 

And I want to say a very big thank you to Andrew Martin from TAFE and to Ty Christopher from the University of Wollongong for the thought and the design and just the ingenuity that has gone into these mobile training centers. 

It is so vital for our local workers to have access to the skills and training that they need for the clean energy jobs of the next generation. And I really want to thank our third-year apprentices for coming along today to be part of this exciting announcement.

And with that, I'll hand over to Minister Giles.

ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks, Alison. It's really great to be here. It's a pretty amazing thing to have four ministers standing here. 

So, I'm really pleased to be here with Paul, with Ryan, and of course with Steve, who I work with incredibly closely in our partnership between the Albanese Labor Government federally and the Minns Labor Government here in New South Wales, to make sure that every person in every corner of New South Wales has every opportunity to get skills they want to do the jobs we need.

And when I think about the jobs that we need, I think about the electrical workforce where we know we need tens of thousands more sparkies right now. 

And today, this commitment, which really is all about the initiative [indistinct] incredible but now shy local federal member, Alison Byrnes, something that you fought for to ensure that more people can get the same opportunity for a fantastic career contribution, just like these electrical apprentices we've been talking to today.

I've got to say that the facilities here are amazing, this container behind us and the two trucks over there. 

It's one thing to read about a proposal on a bit of paper; quite another to see it physically. 

And to think about the impact this is going to have on both the training journey, but also inspiring more people, more young people and more people thinking about upskilling and reskilling to be part of the clean energy opportunities. 

There's been a lot of talk about net zero in the Commonwealth Parliament over the last two weeks. A lot of talk in the Liberal Party room as they talk about themselves. 

What is clear though is that they've got very little to say to the Australian people, net zero ideas when it comes to skills and training.

But today is all about a really significant investment, here in Wollongong but right around regional New South Wales, to bring training to where people are. 

Not to expect people to come to the facilities, but to reach out, to break down every single barrier that's holding people back from fulfilling their potential and making a really big contribution. 

Every day that I get up, I try and play a role in achieving just those goals for individuals and for our economy, and I'm really proud to be able to do that work in partnership with my friend, Steve Whan.

STEVE WHAN, NSW MINISTER FOR SKILLS, TAFE AND TERTIARY EDUCATION: Thanks, Andrew. And it is great to be here with everybody today. I want to really thank the Federal Government, Alison and Andrew and the Federal Government, for the funding that's helped us to get these.

 We've got some very active local members here who pushed us to get a manufacturing centre of excellence here in Wollongong and to work with the University on projects like this.

This is important for a couple of reasons. Regardless of the political debate going on that Minister Giles was just talking about, we're already out there building the power lines, building the solar farms, building the wind farms to actually take us to net zero. 

That work's happening, but it's only happening if we can actually supply the workforce. And what these mobile units are doing for us is two things. 

Firstly, they're helping us to get out into the high schools and to the people who might be the potential workers of the future to let them know the exciting opportunities that are there, the sort of opportunities that our apprentices who've joined us today are seeing. 

And then, they also help us with the mobile training units to go to locations where we may not have that infrastructure on the ground to actually help us with the training. So, it's really important to be able to do that. 

One of the units will be operating here in the Illawarra. It’s started here. One's going to head off to Tamworth and help us in the Central West as well. So that's a really important part of helping communities to see the benefit that the REZs can bring to them, local jobs that help us to reach net zero.

And I'm really proud of the role that TAFE plays in this, in delivering these services. Really thankful for the role that Wollongong University’s played and really importantly, the Federal Government's played in funding it. 

So, thanks everyone, and great to be here to see the product of your election commitment actually roll out the door. It's great.

BYRNES: Literally.

ENDS