New council to build property industry skills
9 September 2004
A new training body will tackle the skill issues faced by the quarter-of-a-million Australian businesses and their employees who design, build, maintain, protect, manage and sell Australia’s buildings.
The new Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council has been formed to boost training investment in the industry and to keep the training system in touch with skill needs around every aspect of Australia’s buildings—from design through to cleaning.
The council is part of network of 10 councils being formed as part of an Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) drive to boost forward planning for the nation’s skill needs.
ANTA chief executive officer Paul Byrne says the council will have an immediate focus on seeking broad-based strategies to tackle the complex issue of skill shortages.
“Skills shortages are about more than training and one of the key tasks for all of the industry skills councils is to help bring government, industry, and training together to tackle the issue,” he said.
“Strategies have to look at a whole range of issues, including an ageing workforce and how we encourage people to stay in the industry, and how their knowledge and experience can be passed on while we update their skills. We also need to change misconceptions among young people about trade careers and at the same time, continue to make training and apprenticeships more attractive and flexible.
"The Construction and Property Industry Skills Council will assist everyone involved to focus on the issue so that employers, employees, apprentices, trainees, and students can get the training and skills they need, when they need them," he said.
The council will cover all aspects of building and property industries including spatial information, surveying, drafting, architecture, general home and building construction, off-site construction, plumbing, real estate sales and property management, cleaning, pest management, waste management, security, stock and station agency, portable fire equipment servicing and fire safety system inspection, and facilities management. Together, these employ around 1.6 million Australians. The council will:
- assist industries, enterprises, and their workforce to integrate skill development with business goals, and
- support high quality, nationally recognised training products and services, including continuing to develop national Training Packages.
The Construction and Property Industry Skills Council takes the tally of new industry skills councils to eight, with the Agri-Food Skills Council, Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council, ElectroComms and Energy Utilities Industry Skills Council, Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council, Resources and Infrastructure Industry Skills Council, Service Industries Skills Australia, and TDT Australia, covering transport and distribution.
For more information visit http://www.anta.gov.au/vetAdvisory.asp
Media inquiries:
Jan Martin (07) 3246 2412 / 0418 875 547
Lisa White (07) 3246 2368