Industry and Skills Minister David Pisoni says new apprentice skills plan starts in July

A MAJOR new program to expand skills training for young people in SA will start from July, despite ongoing negotiations over unlocking a critical $100 million in federal cash.

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A MAJOR new program to expand skills training for young people in SA will start from July, despite ongoing negotiations to unlock $100 million in crucial federal cash.

During the election campaign, the Liberals promised $100 million from SA taxpayers, to be matched by Canberra, as part of a program aimed at averting a “skills crisis” and ensuring that enough young people were trained to take advantage of a defence boon.

Over four years, the $200 million fund is expected to support 20,815 new training places. Industry and Skills Minister David Pisoni said SA expected to be the first state to get cash from a new federal “skilling Australians fund”, and senior officials from both levels of government would meet next week to hammer out details to unlock the support.

The $1.5 billion fund is to be paid for by a special charge on skilled migrant visas.

However, that plan has met political turbulence in the Senate, amid fears that a cutback in the number of skilled migrant visas issued could result in the scheme not being fully paid for.

Mr Pisoni said he was “very confident” of working through “sticking points”.

“We want, obviously, to make sure that we get guaranteed funding,” he told The Advertiser. “There are some sticking points that we want to negotiate with them and take a lead on.

“We’ve had a stumbling block with the funding model, so subsequently that’s what we’re negotiating.

“There is no doubt about the fact that the program will definitely start.

“By working closely with the Federal Government, we are aiming to be the first state to leverage off our $100 million investment to create more than 20,000 new places.

“We’re very optimistic that we’ll get this money.”

The state training program will include apprentices and trainees for occupations in demand, with a particular focus on the defence sector and other industries earmarked for growth.

The Federal Government has warned a huge upswing in demand from ship and submarine projects starting soon in SA may not be met by local workers without new training.

Mr Pisoni said: “There is a skills shortage right across SA”.

“The number of apprentices in SA has declined dramatically in the last four years.

“Unless we address that, and virtually immediately, we’ll see enormous pressure on the cost of doing business here in SA in getting the skilled labour.

“We would rather see South Australians skilled up for those positions than people coming from overseas.”

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