The State Government is rolling out its successful Heavy Vehicle Driving Operations training program to the Kimberley and Pilbara, to help train local people for local jobs. The expansion, funded as part of the 2023-24 State Budget, is expected to result in more truck drivers, including women and Aboriginal people, hitting the road. Developed in collaboration with industry to address the truck driver shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian-first program provides theoretical and practical hands-on truck driver training to train job-ready workers for the priority transport industry.
The additional $3.5 million investment in the program will support North Regional TAFE - external site to deliver the training to around 350 participants in the Pilbara and Kimberley over a four-year period, providing employment opportunities for local people, including Aboriginal people, living in these regions. It will also support the economy, including government civil construction projects, by providing a trained, local heavy vehicle workforce, and address the need for heavy vehicle driver training in the Kimberley and Pilbara. Run in the metropolitan area from April 2021, and expanded to the South West and Mid West over the past two years, the Heavy Vehicle Driving Operations program trains new workers and upskills existing workers to combat skills shortages, and supports the transport and logistics industry.
As of February 2023, of the 552 participants enrolled at a TAFE college to undertake the Heavy Vehicle Driving Operations program, 282 had achieved either a Heavy Rigid, Heavy Combination, or Multi Combination licence. Significantly, around 30 per cent of participants in the course have been women, compared to the overall female representation among truck drivers in WA being less than four per cent.
More information on the initiative is available on this website page www.jobsandskills.wa.gov.au/skillsready - external site.