This month the Australian Government released its new National Resources Workforce Strategy, outlining its plans to ensure our industry’s workforce remains strong, innovative and world-leading.
Focusing on three key themes – Opportunity, Participation and Quality – the strategy details current and planned investments in education reform, skills packages and job support.
The new strategy will help Australians take up jobs in resources industries and to make sure Australia has the skilled workers needed to meet future demand.
It also highlights that the resources sector represents half of Australia’s exports and directly employs over 260,000 people in Australia, while supporting more than one million other jobs across the economy. The strategy notes that employment in the sector has grown by 8.5 per cent between last February and November 2020, creating over 20,000 new jobs, and this growth trajectory is expected to continue.
“There are opportunities across both cities and regions, with employees working in hi-vis, lab coats and office spaces. This Strategy supports Australians to get the skills needed to take up these jobs,” Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt said.
“The resources sector has been a standout through the global COVID pandemic.
“It’s continued to grow despite the pandemic and border disruptions at a time when it is more important than ever that Australians have access to jobs and opportunities.
“We particularly want to ensure that people living in regional communities have opportunities to study, train and upskill to take up these jobs.”
Minister Pitt said Australia’s National Resources Workforce Strategy complements the Government’s JobMaker plan and brings together education and training initiatives to support participation and future growth.
The Strategy outlines measures in the three key areas of opportunity, participation and quality, including ways the Government is:
- Working with industry to plan for job creation and skills demand;
- Supporting local employment, particularly in regional communities;
- Providing opportunities, particularly for women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to engage with resources careers; and
- Increasing the availability of resources-related training.
Minister Pitt said the Government has provided $30 million to establish a new School of Mining and Manufacturing at the Central Queensland University, and invested $585.3 million in vocational education and training through the Delivering Skills for Today and Tomorrow package, including a Mining Skills Organisation Pilot.
“The sector relies on certain skills to unlock new resources potential and productivity and to maintain our status as a world-leading supplier of resources and energy,” Minister Pitt said.
“This new Strategy aims to help the sector meet its need for skills, and to promote resources job opportunities and training to Australian workers.”
The full Australia’s National Resources Workforce Strategy can be found on the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources website.
AREEA was very pleased to be involved in various consultations with the Department of Industry as it developed and refined this strategy.
We look forward to working with the Government on implementing its recommended actions, including those that would leverage AREEA’s capabilities across skills and workforce forecasting, and promotion of STEM into Australian primary schools (both of which are referenced in the strategy document).
