Premier must oversee TAFE SA’s shipbuilding training bid amid course accreditation scandal

THE planned naval shipbuilding college that is supposed to train thousands of workers needed for the huge industry expansion is in limbo because of the growing TAFE crisis.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said Premier must take direct responsibility for TAFE SA’s bid to provide training courses to prepare thousands of workers for the $90 billion naval shipbuilding program amid the course accreditation scandal.

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THE planned naval shipbuilding college that is supposed to train thousands of workers needed for the huge industry expansion is in limbo because of the growing TAFE crisis.

Senior government sources have told The Advertiser that TAFE was likely the only institution with the capacity to deliver key training for the industry but serious doubts over the legitimacy of its training had sparked fears it would be unable to deliver.

TAFE is widely considered essential to train more than 5000 workers desperately needed for the $89 billion surface ship and submarine building projects over the next decade.

TAFE SA has joined with the state’s universities and the Defence Teaming Centre to bid to provide training courses to the Naval Shipbuilding College.

The Australian Skills Quality Authority last week blocked enrolments in 14 TAFE courses because of poor standards and confirmed that it planned to start audits of another batch of courses before April.

Rigger Trent Sadlier and forklift operator Jade Hills take a waterfront view of airwarfare destroyer HMAS Brisbane which they worked on in Adelaide last year.

Sources blamed the TAFE crisis for the Federal Government’s delay in finalising the tender process it began it May for the college, which it had hoped to have up and running early next year.

But State Skills Minister Susan Close dismissed the doubts and said the delay announcing the successful bidder was caused by the Turnbull Government’s complex tender process.

SA Opposition Leader Steven Marshall has urged the Premier to take direct responsibility for the TAFE bid for naval training courses so the crisis did not derail it.

The college would initially focus on entry-level trades in areas including welding, fabrication, electrical work, and air conditioning, which TAFE was believed to be in the best position to offer.

Defence Industries Minister Christopher Pyne has previously labelled building the defence local workforce a “significant challenge”.

“TAFE SA should be able to contribute to the skills of the naval shipbuilding workforce. The question is, can it?” he said yesterday.

Mr Marshall said the State Government’s decision to strip SA of industry training providers meant there were few other training providers available to meet the needs of the college.

“It would be an act of economic vandalism if the Weatherill Government’s mishandling of the TAFE debacle sinks the bid from the Defence Industry Education and Skills Consortium,” he said.

But Dr Close said this was just a “shameless act of blame-shifting”.

“We understand it is their (the Federal Government’s) own complex tender process that is behind the delay — which is nothing to do with TAFE SA,” she said.

“At no stage, has there been any concerns raised about TAFE SA’s involvement.

“ASQA found TAFE SA’s electrician course to be compliant and no concerns have been raised over welding or any other fabrication courses.”

Welding Technology Institute of Australia chief executive officer Geoff Crittenden backed TAFE’s ability to deliver top notch training in the field.

But he was concerned the saga would damage the institution’s reputation in the global defence industry and could lead to jobs being handed to foreigners.

“The whole purpose of the shipbuilding program is to provide local people jobs but the SA Government appears to be doing everything it can to reduce the number of South Australians on the project,” he said.

Defence Teaming Centre chief executive Margot Forster said the rapid growth in the defence sector over the coming decade would require Australia’s industry to accelerate the expansion and potential of its workforce.

“The Naval Shipbuilding College is a key initiative of the Federal Government’s $89 billion Naval Shipbuilding Program and will play an important role in attracting, training and retraining the shipbuilding workforce,” she said.