Four new Mobile TAFE projects will deliver skills and training to directly to the next generation of workers in regional and remote communities in the Northern Territory.
The Albanese Government is investing $6.9 million for the projects, with education and training being delivered to about 700 people on Country in outer regional and remote communities in the NT.
This forms part of a $31 million package across the country to help bridge the gap between remote communities and TAFE and training, and build the local workforce communities need.
The projects in the NT include:
- A partnership between SJT Training and the Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board will receive $2.28 million to deliver a mobile heavy plant and equipment training unit. The project will support up to 80 learners each year and provide on Country training for nationally accredited Certificate III qualifications to boost employment in infrastructure, mining, local government, transport and land management.
- A partnership between Dijan Training and Sunrise Health Service Aboriginal Corporation will receive $2.28 million to establish a mobile health training facility with training delivery taking place across the Big Rivers region. This project will bring nationally accredited Aboriginal Health Worker and Aboriginal Health Practitioner training to at least 390 community-based learners every year.
- Batchelor Institute will receive $2 million to establish the Civil and Construction Framecad Mobile TAFE project, combining manufacturing and training delivery at the Batchelor Institute with on-Country training linked to active housing and infrastructure projects in remote communities. Delivering to communities across all regions of the Northern Territory, the project will support up to 150 learners a year through accredited training in construction, civil construction, engineering and heavy vehicle licensing.
- A further $413,000 will go to the Arnhem Mobile Kitchen project, which will provide hospitality training to about 100 learners a year in remote communities across remote Arnhem Land communities. Led by Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, the project will provide accredited and industry-relevant training in cookery, food safety, hospitality, customer service and related food service skills.
Another 2,000 participants will benefit from non-accredited outreach activities across remote communities.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Skills and Training, Andrew Giles:
“From construction and engineering to health and hospitality – these new Mobile TAFE projects will bring high quality training into local communities.
“We’re backing people to gain skills closer to home and build careers without having to leave their local community.
“When people can train locally, communities benefit from more skilled workers, local employers have improved access to the workforce they need, and more economic opportunities stay in remote communities.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy:
“Mobile TAFE is creating more opportunities for people in remote First Nations communities to build skills closer to home.
“These new community-led Mobile TAFE projects will help ensure more Territorians in remote communities can access the benefits of TAFE; from the Big Rivers region to Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands.
“These projects have been shaped in partnership with First Nations organisations and will help build the local workforce that remote communities need for the future.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour:
“Remote communities have the skills, ambition and determination to build strong local workforces. The Albanese Government’s Mobile TAFE initiative provides nationally accredited and industry-relevant training directly to these communities to deliver the workforces of the future.
“I congratulate the Albanese Government on this great initiative that will bridge the gap between providing quality training on Country and connecting people with industries that are growing right here in the Territory.
“Whether it’s construction and heavy machinery on the Tiwi Islands, health training in the Big Rivers region, or hospitality training across Arnhem Land, this is about building on the strengths that already exist in our communities.”