Adopting the recommendations of today’s Review of Skills, Training and Workforce Development would deliver crucial short-term priority actions advanced by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA (CCIWA), to strengthen and modernise WA’s skills base. CCIWA welcomes the State Government’s commitment today to take these recommendations forward.

These include broadening the enterprise training programme to support a wider range of industries to upskill existing workers, and exploring new models of apprenticeships to better meet industry needs. The Review broadly examined how to enable digital and technological skills in the workforce and creating jobs for displaced workers.

In the longer term however, it is important to reaffirm that WA’s VET delivery market is an open and competitive field. Contrary to the strong and important role of the private sector in the delivery of skills and training, the Review unduly positions TAFE as the default priority provider in a competitive delivery market. CCIWA’s input into the Review urged Government to embed industry at the heart of career development activities – rather than giving central responsibility to schools and Jobs & Skills Centres alone – to better support career decision making.

Equipping our workforce with the skills to meet the needs of a modern economy is a key pillar of CCIWA’s Recovery Reform Roadmap and will be vital to WA’s recovery.

Apprenticeship Support Australia Manager Lena Constantine also welcomed support for more diverse apprentices, while cautioning that the needs of industry and the economy should remain central to the training model.

“It’s critical that individual industries can continue to identify the skills they need, and to select the best provider to deliver that training,” she said.

Chris Rodwell

CCIWA CEO