Collier lambasts miners over training
Training and Workforce Development Minister Peter Collier has blamed the resource industry for his broken promise to have 47,100 West Australians in apprenticeships by this year, claiming the sector had to "lift its game".
Mr Collier will this morning tell the Australasian Oil and Gas Expo that the mining and petroleum industry's proportion of workers in training - 4.3 per cent - is far too low compared with the construction (6 per cent) and manufacturing (6.2 per cent) industries.
"The resources industry will go ballistic, but it's no big ask," he said. "They can bang on about skills shortages all they like but if they are sitting there with one of the lowest percentages of traineeships and apprentices in the industry groups then they need to lift their game."
In February 2010 Mr Collier promised to boost trainee and apprentice numbers by 26 per cent to 47,100 by 2012. But at December 31, the figure was well short at 39,500. He admitted that the 47,100 target was unlikely to be met in the next 12 months either.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy executive director Bruce Campbell-Fraser said the number of apprentices in training in the sector increased by 104 per cent between June 2009 and June last year.
