The ACT Government should develop courses for “space tradies” to ensure that Canberra can benefit from the growth of the Australian space industry, Canberra Liberal MLA James Milligan, Shadow Minister for Skills, believes.
Budget Estimates Hearings on Monday revealed that the Canberra Institute of Technology currently offers no courses to develop these trades, he said.
Mr Milligan called on the ACT government urgently to introduce courses to develop the space tradies needed to ensure jobs of the future are retained in Canberra and to ensure Canberra develops a world-leading space industry.
“Space Tradies include people with vocational and trade training who can build antenna systems, fabricate rocket bodies, and tune radio frequency devices,” Mr Milligan said.
“The ACT is already home to several leading Space companies as well as hosting the Australian headquarters of several international aerospace and defence primes.
“ACT universities graduate high quality Space engineers and scientists; however, we hear from industry there is a large workforce gap when it comes to so-called ‘Space Tradies’.
“The ACT government may say the space industry is an area of focus, but a lack of skilled tradies and no plan to address the gap will see Canberra lose jobs of the future to other Australian jurisdictions.”
The ACT Government has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Space Agency to strengthen the national space industry, and has committed $9.75 million over three years to grow key sectors, including the space industry.
Mr Milligan also said he was disappointed the ACT Budget had, in his view, failed to properly address and fund the skills shortage facing the ACT.
The budget will invest $240 million in new funding over four years for education and skills, and allocated $310 million (a $35 million increase) for skills and training (including $31.2 million more for the new Woden CIT facility, and $4.2 million so Study Canberra can help tertiary education institutions recover).
“This ACT Labor-Greens government has continually failed to address the skills and apprenticeship shortages in the ACT, particularly providing funding or subsidies for the sector across the broadest range of providers, especially outside of the CIT,” Mr Milligan said.
“It is clear there needs to be broader investment in skills and training in the ACT to meet the future needs of the ACT, but [Skills Minister Chris Steel] appears to have no desire to address this significant problem.”
