Congratulations to CME member (BOAB) Building Opportunities for Aboriginal Businesses for winning this year’s WHS Indigenous Engagement award.
BOAB aspires to increase Indigenous training, recruitment, mentoring and employment outcomes through commercial engagement and was honoured with the award at the IFAP 2021 SafeWay awards evening.
BOAB is a leader in the engagement of Indigenous people in training and careers in the mining industry and support sectors, and the award acknowledges the outstanding achievement of General Manager Michelle McAullay (pictured), in bringing the program to life.
Skilled migration forum for mining support industries
Last month the Resources Industry Training Council hosted an industry forum, with Department of Home Affairs representatives and the drilling, conveyor, composites, and laboratory mining services all represented.
The forum was an opportunity for Department of Home Affairs representatives to provide a comprehensive overview of skilled migration programs in place, including visa pathway access and tips to lodging successful applications. It also provided the mining support industries and opportunities to ask questions and vocalise migration workforce challenges, including those for occupations categorised as unskilled or semi-skilled labour in the ANZSCO code.
With local labour markets tightening and the future prospect of further labour mobility challenges, the Resources Industry Training Council was pleased to facilitate this connection between industry and Government.
The Department of Home Affairs will also be presenting at the CME Skills and Training Reference Group meeting to be held in November.
Federal VET reform update – new Industry Clusters confirmed
As set out in the Heads of Agreement for Skills Reform, the Federal, state and territory governments have agreed to reform the way industry engages with the VET system. Following a period of public consultation, the skills and training ministers have now agreed to implement key industry engagement reforms, including:
- The introduction of a new Industry Clusters model, which will replace the existing 67 Industry Reference Committees and six Skills Service Organisations, and;
- Changing processes for training package approvals with a new independent assurance function replacing the Australian Skills Industry Committee.
Key priorities for the reforms are to increase the responsiveness of the VET system to the changing needs of industry (specifically improving the ‘speed to market’ for training products), improving the relevance of VET qualifications for industry, driving high quality training outcomes, and providing industry with a broader, strategic voice within the VET sector.
The Industry Clusters and renewed training package approval processes are expected to be operational by January 1, 2023, with the existing organisations and committees retaining their current responsibilities throughout 2022. A review of the new arrangements will take place 12 months after implementation.
Contact: Amanda Hamilton – Manager, Resources Industry Training Council
Email: a.hamilton@cmewa.com
