WESTERN Australia is beefing up its defence force capabilities announcing on 29 January that it will create a TAFE defence training centre and is launching a defence industry strategy to drive local jobs.
State and federal governments are partnering to create a state-of-the-art training facility, the WA Defence TAFE Centre of Excellence, to give Australians the skills needed to build and maintain critical Australian defence capabilities.
The state government has also released an updated defence industry strategy to give Australians the skills needed to build and maintain critical Australian defence capabilities, through the WA Defence TAFE Centre of Excellence.
The updated 2025 strategy outlines the state’s vision for how the defence and defence industry landscape will look in WA by 2040, with a focus on the role WA will play in the homeporting of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet.
Premier Roger Cook said WA was set to become home to the largest naval shipbuilding and sustainment location in the Southern Hemisphere, and thousands of skilled workers would be needed to support its operations.
“The industry has already seen more than more than 1000 jobs created in Western Australia since AUKUS came into effect, and through this strategy, we aim to grow that figure to 10,000.”
A joint federal and state government media release on the TAFE training facility said the industry was expected to deliver tens of billions of dollars in new defence capabilities and thousands of well-paid, high-skilled jobs over the next two decades.
The $14.6 million project aims to develop Western Australian’s skills in advanced manufacturing. The centre will focus on teaching the newest and best skills across maritime, air, land, space and cyber security sectors.
The centre will help to realise the vision of the recent Cooperation Agreement on Defence signed by the commonwealth and WA governments to deliver critical future defence capabilities in WA.
It builds on defence investments already being made in WA, including in a new Defence Precinct at Henderson, depot-level maintenance and contingency docking for AUKUS submarines at Henderson, delivery of continuous naval shipbuilding in the West, and the establishment and operation of Submarine Rotational Force-West at HMAS Stirling.
The Centre will also work to boost completions and engagement for students in defence sector training, in-line with the National Skills Agreement.
The Centre will also spearhead a range of new critical programs in defence sector training including extending the Women in Defence Industry Scholarship Program, a six-month program that provides WA women the opportunity to train on electronics and engineering alongside qualified tradespeople;
Year 11 school students will be able to take part in the new Defence Industry Pathways Program School-based Traineeship. Students will learn about the various career options in defence industries and achieve a Certificate III in Defence Industry Pathways.
This Centre will also work in partnership with universities to scope out higher-level apprenticeships that focus on innovative curriculum and learning practices.
Operating through a network of four South Metropolitan TAFE campuses across WA, the Centre will be guided by a Curriculum Advisory Group, Community of Practice, governance framework and related governance policies and procedures.
The Australian Government is investing $325 million under the five-year National Skills Agreement, to establish a network of up to 20 TAFE Centres of Excellence.
Each Centre focuses on high skills needs to help deliver a skilled workforce for strategically important industries.
