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Australia July 18, 2011 – As the ongoing skills shortage felt all across regional Australia strongly impacts Gladstone, Queensland, Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Limited (GAGAL) is teaming up with the Central Queensland Institute of TAFE (CQIT) and Energy Skills Queensland in order to provide the skilled migrants in Gladstone a specialized training for the Australian workplace.

The initiative is part of Energy Skills Queensland’s Gladstone Workforce Skilling Strategy.

The Gladstone Workforce Skilling Strategy is a local workforce development, training and employment project that is supporting long-term unemployed, women, migrants and Indigenous people to receive specialized training and employment in jobs associated with the new coal seam gas to the liquefied natural gas industry in Gladstone.

Aimed to provide opportunity for job seekers to receive specialized training that aligns to the needs of both existing and emerging Gladstone workforce, the Gladstone Workforce Skilling Strategy is managed by the Energy Skills Queensland and jointly funded by the Australian Government, Queensland Government and Job Services Australia providers, as well as contributions from the private sector and employers.

As Gladstone is being the focus of a large number of developments such as the coal facilities expansion and the LNG projects, the Gladstone business community, whether it be small, medium or big business, needs to create sustainable and structured pathways to employment in the construction and resources sectors or where they’re needed, according to Richard Bent, program co-ordinator at the Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Limited (GAGAL).

As work in Australia increases due to the booming resource industry resulting to an increasing number of jobseekers applying for Australia visa, there is a need for the Gladstone business community to be able to source workers where they can.

Energy Skills Queensland believes that the federal government’s reforms that increased the approval of Australian skilled visa and the onslaught of Australia skilled visa application, though they have professional qualifications and work experience, are unable to utilize their talents in the local workforce for a variety of reasons. All they need is training for the Australian workplace.

According to Mr. Bent, Gladstone businesses are crying out for the kind of skills these migrants offer while the migrants are likewise motivated to get involved.

The said initiative will start last July 11 and will run for 15-20 weeks and includes pre-employment training at GAGAL and modules from Certificate IV in Written and Spoken English at TAFE.

source:
gladstoneobserver.com.au