Strategy for skilling the regional workforce

Whitsunday Regional Council, Queensland, is supporting the local Agriculture, Mining and Tourism industries to ensure there is a supply of skilled local people.

Council is working with the Queensland Government to deliver the ‘Skilling the Whitsundays’ Regional Skills Investment Strategy (RSIS) project, which aims to identify training and skills gaps and connect local people to local training opportunities.

One of the key objectives of the Project is to identify available and emerging jobs in the three pillar industries and the skills needed for those roles.

Mayor, Andrew Willcox, said Council would be engaging with local business and industry leaders through a Reference Group.

“This is a two-year initiative and we will be focussing on our key pillar industries of Agriculture, Mining and Tourism.

“We will be working closely with our local industry to promote local training opportunities, and the project will also identify any skills issues or shortages.”

The project bridges the gap between existing training opportunities provided through the Annual Vocational Education and Training Investment plan and current workforce needs in the region.

Council’s RSIS Project Coordinator will be engaging with the Agriculture, Mining and Tourism sectors to train the workers needed to grow the local economy and workforce of the future.