The defence industry welcomes the release of the State Liberal Party Jobs Policy Paper released today. The Jobs Policy announces an election promise of 20,800 new apprenticeships and traineeships over the next four years, primarily targeted toward young South Australians looking to work in the defence industry.
“The recent approval by the Commonwealth Government of Defence projects over $95 bn will see a huge requirement for specialised skilled personnel in the future. This policy is a great step towards filling a future need in the defence industry’s rapidly changing and expanding workforce. It is also important that apprenticeship training and the future needs of the defence employment sector are linked.
The Defence Industry is pleased to see that this policy aims to create over 20,000 new places in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system; increasing the opportunity for South Australian youths to secure apprenticeship placements in the defence industry.
Investing in apprenticeships is one way South Australia will be able to train and retain young people in this sector. Furthermore, the defence industry welcomes the proposed plan to establish a technical college in Adelaide’s North Western Suburbs with a view to preparing students for employment in the defence sector.” Said Defence Teaming Centre CEO Margot Forster.
The State Liberals propose spending $100 million on the Jobs Policy, with the aim of securing matched funding from the Federal Governments Skilling Australians Fund, increasing funding to $200 million.
“If elected to Government, the Defence Teaming Centre looks forward to supporting this proposal by working with the State and Federal Governments, to ensure the defence industry takes full advantage of the apprenticeship initiatives being proposed,” said Ms Forster.
