Apprentices Hudson Allard-Delahunt and Starr Evans with Shannon Fentiman and TAFE heavy commercial industries business manager Geoff Tillett.
An Automotive Centre of Excellence for training in heavy vehicle trades and new hybrid and autonomous technologies is being established in Queensland.
Construction of the TAFE Queensland’s SkillsTech centre is due to start in November, with training and skills development minister Shannon Fentiman announcing $2 million for it.
“As Queensland moves towards a greener future, more and more of our transport and heavy machinery will also be replaced by hybrid models,” she says.
“This investment will see TAFE Queensland partnering with industry to focus their training on preparing Queenslanders for a greener, cleaner tomorrow.”
Fentiman says the new facilities will provide world class training facilities for the hybrid and autonomous vehicle industry using new machinery which produces lower emissions.
“The centre will have the capacity to cater for more than 30 students at a time with three heavy plant workshop bays, two vehicle testing spaces and a test cell observation space.”
Added to that will be two classrooms and a virtual classroom for simulated training.
“The premier and I unveiled the free apprenticeships initiative at the launch of the new Skills for Queensland plan, Great Training for Quality Jobs,” Fentiman says.
“Our $32 million investment in free apprenticeships will support local businesses to take on more apprentices and trainees.
“Right now, businesses bear the cost for training an apprentice and we will be removing this expense for employers across 139 apprenticeships and traineeships, including qualifications in heavy vehicle and mobile plant technologies.”
Stretton member Duncan Pegg saus the $2 million funding is part of more than $13 million being spent on infrastructure upgrades at the Acacia Ridge campus in 2019-20.
“In addition to the $2 million for construction, TAFE Queensland will be investing in new state of the art equipment allowing students to train using the latest in hybrid and autonomous technologies,” he says.
Toohey member Peter Russo says this project is in addition to the construction of a new $650,000 Caravan Industry Training Facility to cater for the growth in demand for recreational vehicles.
“The investment at Acacia Ridge is part of the Palaszczuk Government’s more than $105 million investment to renew and expand TAFE campuses across Queensland,” he says.
“We need to plan for the future of Queensland and ensure we have the skilled workers now and for the emerging industries such as the caravan industry and hybrid vehicle training.”
