Sophie Conlon
The Mount Gambier Skills Centre, built to address the skills shortages in the timber and forestry industries, was officially opened by Minister for Education, Training and Skills Blair Boyer last week.
Funded by a $565,000 grant from Skills SA, the centre was an initiative of the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub (GTFIH), Group Training Employment (GTE) and the Logging Investigation and Training Association (LITA).
Mr Boyer said the centre would go a long way to addressing skill shortages in the forestry industry, something that would drive growth in South Australia.
“I know how keen people in this neck of the woods are to have some more work behind growing that workforce,” he said.
“We are investing in the future of young people in our state to provide better career pathways in in-demand industry sectors meeting the needs of regional communities.
“Skill shortages are impacting on our economy and is something we continue to focus our efforts on, identifying areas of concern now and into the future.”
GTFIH workforce development manager Josh Praolini oversaw the project and said it was exciting to see the centre officially opened.
“Mount Gambier hasn’t had a formal qualification for timber milling for quite some time, so what this means now is that we have got two pathways for young people,” he said.
“We’ve got the opportunity to put on trainees from schools, from the community, to enter the timber milling with a qualification, that means that they’re going to be highly skilled, highly productive… but we can also supply that to our existing field operators who are taking those next steps.”
Mr Praolini said the industries were changing, becoming more technical, and having the centre available would show how expansive the industries are.
“Having a skill centre that specialises in the forestry industry, especially timber and milling industry, means that we can actually assure that our young people are understanding the opportunities provided by the timber and forestry industry,” he said.
The Skill Centre houses a range of equipment to give students hands on learning, without the need to actually be on site, which Mr Praolini said was a positive.
“These vehicles, if they’re being used for training it means they’re not being used for production, it’s a cost to the companies, it’s also dangerous if they’re not used properly,” he said.
“What we can do now is have people come into the Skill Centre, we’ve got virtual reality immersive simulators of this harvesting equipment in safe environment, students can get used to the controls, get used to the way the machines work, and how the trees fall in a simulated safe environment.”
Mr Praolini said LITA had been offering qualifications for a long time, but through the Skill Centre they were able to expand their teachings.
He said having the centre located in the green triangle would reduce the burden of travelling to access these qualifications.
“Having it local increases the accessibility to encourage more use of it,” he said.
“So previously, you’d have to travel to stay to another city to do this kind of training and so to have it in Mount Gambier means that there’s more incentive because you’re not having to be away from friends, family, and that additional costs of travelling away.
“It’s a huge boon for the region, to be able to have it here in the green triangle in amongst all our of forestry industry.”
GTE general manager Greg Megaw said through the Skills Centre they had employed field officer Andrew Norman, who was there to develop relationships with industry and talk about skill gaps to understand the current and future employment needs of the sectors.
“As a GTE field officer, Andrew will provide a one-stop-shop for the forestry sector to recruit, promote and employ trainees, including facilitation, monitoring of training and pastoral care,” he said.
“Through Andrew’s role, we’ll also see greater promotion and education of forest industry vocations at schools and job networks across the Limestone Coast.”
Mr Praolini said in his role Mr Norman would provide wraparound support for trainees and apprentices as they step into the workforce.
“This field officer is just an extra string in our bow to ensure that we can attract the right talent for the right companies with the right training,” he said.
