RDAWEP has been aware for some time that the new Liberal government has a new focus in the area of skills development especially in light of the anticipated skills shortages facing our state.

RDAWEP and the State Government in partnership with the Commonwealth is placing considerable attention to increasing the numbers of apprenticeships and traineeships taken up over the next four years and the State Government has released the following statement.

“The South Australian Government is committed to ensuring that apprenticeships are attractive to job seekers, businesses and industry, and continue to have a fundamental role in meeting the state’s skills development needs into the future. To achieve this goal, the Government is investing $100 million, with a further $103 million provided by the Australian Government through the Skilling Australians Fund National Partnership Agreement, to create an additional 20,800 apprenticeships in South Australia over the next four years. This is additional to the Government’s existing investment of more than $1bn in training and skills over the same period. Skilling South Australia is the range of activities that will implement the National Partnership in South Australia”.

Whilst this is a different focus to skilling our region’s workforce, RDAWEP is confident that we will be able to continue to offer our businesses a service to help them meet their skills needs – specifically in those skills which require a contract of training such as apprenticeships and traineeships.

RDAWEP has at its disposal considerable experience and expertise in coordinating training for small employers by aggregating their collective needs to achieve economies of scale for the Government and the employer. The program guidelines provide the flexibility needed for RDAWEP to maximize outcomes using some tried, and some new and innovative approaches to program delivery.

There are few businesses on EP with the capacity to submit project applications without “partnering” with other like businesses. This is where RDAWEP can use its extensive regional knowledge and experience to aggregate smaller employers and assist them as a collective to submit applications.

If you are a small business and believe you can partner with other similar businesses or you represent a business sector and would like to learn more about how RDAWEP may be able to help with resourcing your apprentice or trainee program, please contact RDAWEP’s Employment and Skills Development Manager – Peter Mitchell on 8623 0506.

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