Professional training institutions have the capacity to fulfill the labour requirements of resource industry employers in Australia, according to the Chairman of Coal Services, Ron Land.
Mr Land said the Federal Government’s plan to speed up the intake of foreign workers to remedy the skills shortage facing the resources sector was short sighted and misguided.

He said Australian training providers such as Coal Services had the capacity and willingness to supply the resources industry with skilled local labour.

“While skilled migration will always have a place in the dynamic and rapidly growing industries such as the Australian resources sector, the government’s recommended approach fails to recognise a wealth of training expertise available to employers,” he said.

“The government’s quick fix, speed-it-up approach to the use of foreign labour flies in the face of current regulations and protocols in relation to its use of statutory-bodies and approved Australian training providers such as Coal Services.”

Mr Land said Coal Services had invested millions of dollars on the construction of the training infrastructure necessary to qualify Australian people for employment in the rapidly growing resources sector and that a number of other tertiary institutions could also readily provide skilled and talented local resource industry workers.

“However the government seems determined to adopt a quick-fix approach to the skills shortage rather than a longer-term view,” he said.

“I don’t believe the government’s approach will provide any meaningful or sustainable solutions to the skills shortage facing the sector."