BHP to subsidise student fees for regional training courses

The mining giant will help underwrite a federal government program for unemployed, young and Indigenous Australians to access apprenticeships, skills and short-course training.

Upskilling: Mackay Base Hospital nurse Alycia Blank. Picture: Daryl Wright

Mining giant BHP will help underwrite a federal government program for unemployed, young and Indigenous Australians to access apprenticeships, skills and short-course training across the regions.

Under the Future of Work ­program, announced on Monday, BHP will subsidise student fees for up to 1000 regional Australians, with the Morrison government covering commonwealth contributions.

BHP Minerals Australia president Edgar Basto, who travelled through regional Queensland this month, said the company was backing a business-led recovery as the nation emerged from the COVID-19 economic recession.

Mr Basto said BHP’s $30m contribution would focus on creating and sustaining jobs and “developing the workforce of the future”.

“We can help Australians affected by the pandemic reskill and find new jobs through education and training,” he said.

“These advanced apprenticeships and short courses will embrace technology to equip workers for the future. Importantly, the program will provide opportunities in all sectors, not just in mining.

“This is one part of how we are helping Australia and our communities bounce back.”

Mr Basto said he was a “firm believer of vertical integration” and ensuring local businesses and Indigenous groups could be “more resilient”. The mining executive, who oversees BHP’s Australian operations, said travelling through regional Queensland had pressed-home to him the importance of the resources sector and the company’s role in supporting the broader economic recovery.

With COVID-19 measures including JobKeeper and the coronavirus supplement ending this week, Education Minister Alan Tudge said the government was focused on “getting more people into work and skilling Australians for the jobs of the future”.

“The partnership will also support growth in regional areas by improving access to education, upskilling locals and creating pathways to employment,” Mr Tudge said. “We’re creating more options for school leavers, and for workers who want to upskill or reskill — particularly those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mr Tudge said the Future of Work Partnership built on the government’s Job Ready Graduates package, which would create an extra 100,000 university places by 2030 and 50,000 new short-course places and incentives for regional students.

BHP, which employs 45,000 Australians and injects more than $33bn into the national economy, last year committed $800m over five years to fund 3500 Australian apprenticeship and training positions and support growth in the emerging mining, equipment, technology and services sector.

Mackay Base Hospital nurse Alycia Blank, who is enrolled in a graduate certificate in clinical nursing at Central Queensland University, is one of the first to benefit under the Future of Work program, with applications open in regional NSW, Queensland, South Australia and WA.

Ms Blank, who has family and friends working in the mining sector, said the BHP-funded program would help further her career and stay in Mackay.