Technical college will mean more opportunities for Murraylands kids
South Australia’s re-elected state government is pushing ahead with a plan for a $50 million vocational training centre in Murray Bridge.
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Work on a new technical college in Murray Bridge has already begun since Labor’s state election win on Saturday, Premier Peter Malinauskas says.
Building a new facility alongside Murray Bridge High School was the most expensive of Labor’s pre-election promises to the Murraylands, with a price tag of $50 million.
That’s two and a half times the cost of the middle school building which opened at the high school in 2022.
Mr Malinauskas and Education, Training and Skills Minister Blair Boyer announced on Monday that they had already instructed the Education Department to get on with the job.
The first step will be consulting with local employers, councils and community members to determine what skill sets are most needed in the Murraylands.
“We have an ambitious agenda for this term of government, and I won’t waste a single day,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“Technical colleges can change people’s lives … but they also play a huge part in building the skills sector for the ambitious projects we have in South Australia, (such as) AUKUS and the construction of thousands of homes.”
Every young South Australian deserved a quality education and a clear path to a decent job, Mr Boyer said.
“Not every student needs to go to university to secure a good job, nor should they,” he said.
“Technical colleges are an essential component in addressing South Australia’s skills needs and seizing our state’s economic opportunities.”
Five such colleges have so far been built around SA: three in Adelaide, and two more at Port Augusta and Mount Gambier.
How will the technical college be different to what we have already?
At present, three main institutions offer technical training in the Murraylands:
- TAFE SA’s Murray Bridge campus offers award courses in aged and disability care, early childhood education, community services and engineering, plus a vocational pathways course for students who may need extra support as they enter the workforce
- The Lower Murray Trade Training Centre, already operational at Murray Bridge High School, offers students in years 10-12 access to certificate courses in 14 vocational areas, from carpentry and husbandry to nursing and game art
- Unity College also has its own Trade Skills Centre which offers a handful of courses to high school-aged students.
What’s different about the new technical college is that courses will be co-designed with specific employers, like ASC, SA Power Networks and SA Health.
Graduates will be guaranteed a job, apprenticeship, traineeship or further study – and 12 months of extra support – after they finish.
The government will cover the cost of transport and/or accommodation for students who need to travel to study there, as well as all training and uniform costs.
What will students be able to study at the technical college?
House construction will certainly be one of the pathways available at the new college – Labor announced a plan to get 1000 extra workers into the industry in February.
Engineering is likely to be another focus, with decades of work coming up on the next generation of submarines at Osborne and with suppliers around the state.
Other pathways at the new college are likely to reflect current unmet labour demands in the Murraylands region.
According to Thuyen Vi-Alternetti, infrastructure and environment general manager at the Rural City of Murray Bridge, these demands include jobs in early childhood education, aged care and allied health.
"We also know that with the region's expected growth over the next decade, industries such as construction – across both commercial projects and residential housing – are increasingly reliant on trade-qualified workers, including electricians, plumbers and carpenters."
- More information: www.technicalcolleges.sa.gov.au.
Labor has an ambitious agenda to fulfil
Before his recent re-election, Premier Peter Malinauskas visited Murray Bridge and outlined how a re-elected Labor government would invest a massive $100 million dollars on new infrastructure and services in Murray Bridge.
Apart from the $50 million dollars to be spent on the new technical college, Premier Malinauskas pledged that his government would spend money on the following:
- $33.8 million on an Adelaide Metro bus service connecting Murray Bridge to the city, including Footy Express services and buses every 30 minutes during peak periods
- $15 million on a new maternity ward and renal unit at the Murray Bridge hospital, with additional rooms and dialysis chairs – both facilities which had been identified as needed
- An extra $8.6 million on new facilities at Fraser Park Primary School, on top of the $10.8 million already promised
- $5.6 million for permanent, salaried paramedics to handle patient transfers to and from Murray Bridge, freeing up capacity elsewhere in the system
- $320,000 building a new home for Bertha the bunyip
- Another $320,000 for a new boat ramp at Sturt Reserve
In addition, the Labor government pledged to build a new police station in Murray Bridge and to make Murray Bridge residents eligible for the Patient Assistance Transfer Scheme, which would make it easier for local patients to access regular treatment in Adelaide.
It was not yet clear at the time of publication whether Labor candidate Simone Bailey would be successful in her bid to unseat long-serving Liberal Adrian Pederick as the state Member for Hammond.
