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The federal and South Australian governments have announced a $28 million National Security TAFE Centre of Excellence that will be established to prepare the technical workforce to be AUKUS ready.
A National Security TAFE Centre of Excellence will be built in South Australia to train and upskill technicians to work on AUKUS, with strong focuses on preventing national security and cyber threats.
The announcement came last week, as both the Albanese and Malinauskas government committed to investing $14 million each into the facility, which will see a strong focus on enhancing the national security technical infrastructure and information systems, with a key goal of preparing South Australians to be job ready to work on AUKUS.
Federal Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles said this will “protect what matters most”.
“The Albanese and Malinauskas governments are working together to strengthen TAFE in South Australia and ensure every South Australian can access affordable, accessible and specialised training that prepares them for secure, long-term work in careers that are essential to Australia’s future.”
“TAFE Centres of Excellence will be engine rooms of innovation in vocational education, sharing best practice teaching and learning across the country through the National TAFE Network,” he added.
Training programs and micro-credentials will be created in order to upskill current and future technicians, with strong emphasis in the fields of electrotechnology, electronics and engineering training.
Training will focus on how to address the increasingly complex nature of a digitised world, such as how to not fall victim to cyber crimes and how to prevent security threats on national projects. This will be achieved through providing hands-on experience in automated technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality tools.
South Australian Minister for Education Training and Skills Blair Boyer said: “We will deliver new training courses in defence and cyber security, build a world-class training facility for the future workforce, and offer courses for South Australians to protect themselves from cyber crime and fraud.
“TAFE SA is well placed as the largest provider of defence training in South Australia to deliver this new National Security Centre of Excellence, which will support Australia’s capacity to build and safeguard sovereign manufacturing capabilities.”
The facility will also offer partnerships with universities, research institutes, unions and industry professionals for further technical, education and career growth. Collaborations with UK and US educational institutions will enable students and workers to advance their training and develop new qualifications.
This comes as the Albanese government continues to roll out $325 million across states and territories, in accordance with the National Skills Agreement, which aims to “transform the national VET system, ensuring it provides high quality, responsive and accessible education and training to boost productivity”.
