The  Government is to host a series of tourism industry consultations across Western Australia. It will be an opportunity for stakeholders to share ideas on the industry's future. Tourism is a major focus of the State Government's WA Recovery Plan The series of 14 events commence on Monday 1st November and will be held at metropolitan and regional locations stretching from Kununurra to Esperance.
The tourism industry in Western Australia accounts for more than 109,000 jobs and before COVID-19, contributed $11 billion in visitor spend to the State's economy.

Read the full statement

The government has announced a mandatory workforce vaccination scheme as one of the measures to be used to prepare the state for the anticipated community transmission of the COVID19 virus. The measures will be applied to a very broad range of occupations. This is further extended to parts of the workforce that will require double vaccination to attend work under lockdown restrictions. 

Information about the program can be accessed here.  ​

The sport and recreation and aquatic and community recreation sub-sectors have changed significantly in the last decade leading to key changes to workforce demand and the operating environment. The training package products are no longer fit for purpose and need to be updated. As a result a Case for Change to these SIS Training Packages have been made:
SIS10115 Certificate I in Sport and Recreation
SIS20115 Certificate II in Sport and Recreation
SIS30115 Certificate III in Sport and Recreation
SIS31015 Certificate III in Aquatics and Community Recreation
SIS40115 Certificate IV in Sport and Recreation
SIS50115 Diploma of Sport and Recreation Management.
To present your input and/or support for this case it needs to be made by 9:00am AEDT on Monday, 01 November 2021. 
To access the case for change and contact details click here

Two iconic hotels have been shortlisted as finalists in the 2021 Western Australian Heritage Awards for their demonstration of the unique tourism experience that can come from the conservation and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings.
Northam's Farmers Home Hotel and Fremantle's Warders Hotel and Emily Taylor are among the 31 finalists for this years' awards and are among seven projects competing for the Award for Excellence in Conservation or Adaptive Reuse of a State Registered Place.
Seven Western Australians have been acknowledged as finalists in the individual award categories for their voluntary or professional commitment to the heritage sector.

Read the full media statement

Over 200 attended the 2021 WA Trails and Recreation Forum held in Albany over the 13th to 15th October. This was a chance for key decision makers to share information and network regarding the forum themes of recovery, resilience and recreation. Key note speaker was former Olympic pole vaulter and passionate outdoor recreation advocate Emma George.
Picture: Great Southern Outdoors 

The state training authority, the Department of Training and Workforce Development, have released for comment a draft nominal hours proposal for newly revised training package for the creative industries, CUA Creative Arts and Culture.
Nominal hours refer to the agreed number of funded training hours per unit of competency within a training package, and should reasonably reflect the time required to train a student to competency in the skills represented in that unit.
Industry and training providers are invited to provide feedback before COB Friday 22nd October 2021. Any requested changes should relate to content in the new units and/or changes between the revised and the superseded unit, or changes in industry practice which influence the time required to train a student in related skills.
The proposed hours may be accessed here, and advice may be provided to FutureNow Industry Development Manager for the creative industries, Ann-Marie Ryan, at amryan@futurenow.org.au or on 0459 982 357

The WA state government has announced it will match additional federal funding for the JobTrainer program. The new $103.6 million joint funding arrangement will provide further support to the Lower fees, local skills initiative, and includes funding for 10,000 additional digital skills training places.
The Western Australian vocational training sector has seen a 21% increase in enrolments in the past year, and this latest funding round will see 30 new courses added to the lower fees list, meaning 210 courses in total will be heavily reduced.

Read Minister Ellery's full media statement 

To assist State-wide demand for VacSwim instructors over the busy summer period the 2020 initiative in providing Year 12 students with funded training has been extended to 2021. To be eligible, students must be currently enrolled in Year 12 at a Western Australian school and be at least 17 years of age. The training program will be available across the WA metropolitan area and in specific regional centres.  For more information click here 

A series of  Regional Skills Summits has been held at Kununurra, with local business and government leaders meeting to discuss opportunities to grow the skilled workforce in the Kimberley.
The Kununurra-Kimberley Regional Skills Summit will generate further practical actions and new and innovative ideas to address the region's unique skills needs. A second Kimberley Regional Skills Summit is scheduled for Broome in November.
More than 25 government and regional business leaders from a range of sectors including the accommodation and food services industries are attending. The aim is to build a skilled workforce and retain people in regional areas
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Full Media statement