Protect electrical skills and training

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment wants to split up education and training packages for electrical workers. This would fragment skills and qualifications across different ‘clusters’. 

The Department’s plan will  harm the future electrical workforce, making their skills and qualifications less transferable across different industries. The proposed clusters will silo our skills and qualifications, lower the competency of electrical workers, lower economic growth in these sectors and potentially threaten the safety of workers and the Australian public.

Instead, we have submitted a paper along with NECA and Master Electricians Australia, asking for one cluster focusing on energy and renewables. This cluster would combine the four energy related training packages – Electrotechnology, ESI Transmission, Distribution and Rail, ESI Generation and Gas. This is a logical solution because the four packages are interlinked and share common skills.

Thanks to our members who responded to the call to email their state and federal skills minister about this issue. Stay tuned for next steps and updates with this issue.