NEWS Alert - Responses to Productivity Places Program

AGRI-FOOD NEWS
26 May

The council has introduced this occasional Agri-Food News Alert to advise you of matters affecting your sector. Our aim is to retain a focus on skills and training issues. However, the News Alerts will comprise usually of the two or three more important matters of the day from the news media, from industry, government, RTOs and from the council itself.

If you have an issue to send out to your sector, please send it to me and we can make it available to others across your sector, through this Alert and on our website.

 

Skilling Australia for the future

The council wishes to advise you that the Federal Government has released a range of submissions and responses to its Discussion Paper on Skilling Australia for the Future (issued on 1 April 2008): DISCUSSION PAPER

The Discussion Paper was developed to enable feedback to be provided to the Australian Government about the proposed architecture and implementation arrangements for 630,000 additional training places, delivered under the Productivity Places Program: RESPONSES

To seek to inform its stakeholders, the Agri-Food Industry Skills Council has created a new webpage on its website in order to provide a ready source of information about these initiatives: AGRI-FOOD WEB-PAGE

The eleven Industry Skills Councils have prepared a joint response to the Discussion Paper: ISCs JOINT RESPONSE

The ISCs said the Discussion Paper represented a watershed in Australia’s vocational education and training history.  It recognised that long overdue reform was needed to the way in which we access and deliver skills to industry, the workforce, and those wishing to gain employment. The policy echoes industry’s long held position that a demand driven VET system is the only way in which Australia will:
  • Raise industry and individual investment in skills and workforce development so as to maximise Australia’s latent human capital
  • Ensure real outcomes that raise productivity and participation to levels capable of sustaining a strong economy
Skilling Australia for the Future, its aspirations and approach, is strongly supported by the 11 ISCs. The additional 450,000 training places will inject much needed skills and labour into the economy but the program promises to deliver considerably more than additional training places.


PRINTED BOOKLETS AND DVD SETS NOW AVAILABLE
1 - The council now has copies of the Work-Like Integrated Learning Guide for Trainers and Assessors. They are immediately available on request at no charge. CLICK HERE 

2 - Also about to be distributed are the DVD abd booklet sets on careers in Horticulture, Jobs for Life. These sets are available on request at no charge. CLICK HERE
3 - The council also has available copies of the Agri-Food Environmental Scan ...an industry in transition. CLICK HERE

To order any of these titles, please send a request on this EMAIL LINK

NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2008 - IT'S ALL ABOUT SKILLS
The council's National Conference 2008 will be held at Rydges Melbourne on 25-26 September, starting with welcoming drinks on the night of Wednesday, 24 September. This is an opportunity to participate in the latest industry thinking on skills and training products and services, and to meet formally and informally with your peers from the agri-food industry, training and governments.

Follow THIS LINK to go to the conference web page.


JOIN OUR STAKEHOLDER LIST - CLICK HERE 
We encourage all industry enterprises, training organisations and people from all backgrounds and vocations to participate as a member of our stakeholder list. We also ask industry peak bodies already on our stakeholder list to support us by relaying this message out to their memberships.

Peter Clack
Agri-Food Industry Skills Council
P: 02 6163 7228F: 02 6163 7299M: 0418 978 090 E: peter.clack@agrifoodskills.net.au 
W: www.agrifoodskills.net.au