Earn And Learn - Mackay RTO Filling Skills Gap

Channelling more students into apprenticeships would not only help reduce juvenile crime but meet the future skills shortage, according to the owner of a leading RTO.

Civil Safety’s Founder Robert Kerridge has doubled down on his commitment to the Mackay region: re-opening an expanded and upgraded Mackay facility, increasing its training capacity to accommodate more students.

MP Nigel Dalton officially opened the facility together with Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson.

Mr Kerridge also opened a brand-new facility in Moranbah last month. He said as baby boomers set to retire, it was more important than ever to target school students.

“Demographers have described it as the “retirement cliff’,” he said.

“There’s a wave of opinion that increasing quotas for foreign workers is a solution, but most of them will need to undertake some training and upskilling to meet Australian workplace standards and operations.

“I know what it’s like to struggle at school, I wasn’t a good scholar so when you find yourself in an apprenticeship that interests you it can be life changing and change a whole family’s life with someone getting a job or upskilling to get a better job. It's second chance stuff.

“Over the last two decades there has been a real push in students finishing year 12, instead of leaving at year 10 to undertake a trade. The Universities have done a great job in promoting their courses, but at the end of the day there will be students struggling to find employment with a huge (HECs) tuition bill.

“If we can channel some of these kids who are just kicking dirt, to finish school, into training that piques their interest, we can make a difference. It’s finding that hook of ‘earn and learn’ and ‘no time for crime’.

“With our work with Queensland Corrections we have prisoners who have turned their life around through training and not only have jobs but keep those jobs.

“If they can work out how to open an electric door to steal the keys to steal a car, then they could channel that into becoming an electrician. It’s finding out what pushes their buttons beyond the thrill of crime.”

Mayor Williamson said the Civil Safety facility was a boon to Mackay with training opportunities in the region critical to ongoing regional success.

“We know the way civil construction, mining services and all the support industries that support the resources sector are going that training is absolutely essential,” he said.

“To have this facility here providing across the board training is a pathway programme that is really important particularly for young people, but also for anybody who wants to get into resources sector or the agriculture sector - or any of the industries that require a level of training that didn’t exist a few years ago, this is fantastic for Mackay.”

In the Mackay region, Civil Safety’s most in-demand course is the Standard 11—a mandatory mining induction program that’s a legal requirement to work on surface coal and metalliferous mines in Queensland.

Other popular high-risk training programs include forklift operation, working safely at heights, operating elevated work platforms, and dogging (working with cranes), which continue to rank among the top courses chosen by local workers looking to build their skills and improve job prospects.

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Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson (left) and Civil Safety’s Founder Robert Kerridge. Photo supplied

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