A Shorten Labor Government will upgrade electrotechnology and engineering workshops at Acacia Ridge TAFE – ensuring Queensland apprentices and students have next generation skills for the jobs of the future.
The $1.25 million upgrade will ensure TAFE Queensland’s Acacia Ridge SkillsTech campus maintains its position as a lead training provider of advanced manufacturing and advanced engineering.
Engineering and mechanical apprentices will be among those to benefit from the investment.
The Acacia Ridge campus will be equipped to teach using augmented reality equipment and expose traditional trades students to future-focussed technology including automation and robotics.
Cutting edge facilities such as programmable logic controllers, light detection and ranging technologies and hybrid vehicle control intelligence will be installed as part of the upgrade.
Located 25 minutes south of the Brisbane CBD, the Acacia Ridge campus is TAFE Queensland’s flagship for trade training in Queensland. It is located in an industrial zone close to key employment and population areas with multiple partnerships across various industries throughout Queensland and the nation.
This investment will provide TAFE Queensland with the infrastructure needed to meet growing demand from industry for higher level skills in advanced manufacturing, heavy engineering and automation.
Labor is committed to rebuilding TAFE and investing in apprenticeships to ensure Australian students have the skills they need to get jobs in new industries and with new technologies.
Labor’s Member for Moreton, Graham Perrett, said this investment in trade and technical training is an investment in our young people.
“It will also allow businesses, both locally and across the state, including large Queensland-based manufacturers and miners, to improve their competitive edge with a highly trained and skilled workforce for the future,” Mr Perrett said.
Labor’s plan will also give TAFE Queensland the capability to respond to the requirements of a broader range of industries, including those requiring automation and robotics.
The Acacia Ridge upgrade is part of Labor’s $200 million Building TAFE for the Future Fund aimed at revitalising TAFE campuses across Australia. Labor’s intends to restore TAFE as the foundation skills and training provider across the country and is committed to ensuring at least two thirds of all government funding for vocational education will go to TAFE.
Labor has also committed to more than $1 billion in additional investment in TAFE, including:
- 150,000 additional apprentice incentives.
- 100,000 fee-free TAFE places.
- 20,000 adult apprentices.
- 10,000 pre-apprenticeship programs.
Labor will also ensure one in every 10 jobs on Commonwealth priority projects are filled by Australian apprentices, and we will conduct a once in a generation inquiry into the post-secondary education system to identify and fix the problems created by the Liberals.
This election is a choice between Labor’s plan for better investment in skills, TAFE and apprenticeships, or bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town under the Liberals.
After six years of Liberal cuts and chaos, our united Labor team is ready.
