Training and Skills Minister Gayle Tierney announced at a Moe abattoir 100 positions for a new program which will fast-track people into entry-level meat industry jobs on Thursday.
The pilot training program, Skills Uplift – Gippsland, will begin in May and aims to provide people with the right set of skills needed for the job, slashing the study time to four days.
Once the people complete the training with FGM Consultants they will have a job with Greenham Gippsland, which opened late last year.
Ms Tierney said the ‘Skill Sets’ delivered by Federation Training meant a “new era” where people could acquire the skills to be job-ready much faster than doing a full qualification.
The program will instruct students on basic meat worker skills such as safety, hygiene, animal welfare and knife sharpening.
Greenham Gippsland plant manager Brett Scoble said the program would help “break the ice” on the stigma abattoirs are only about “blood and guts”.
“The more knowledge we can give them before they start, the easier it will be for not only them, but for us to get them to the next level and being long-term employees here,” Mr Scoble said.
State member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing said having a better link between existing and emerging industries in Gippsland and the necessary skills would enable better job creation opportunities for Gippsland people.
“Our markets in primary produce and food and fibre in particular are continuing to grow,” Ms Shing said.
“We’ve got a lot of opportunities to explore niche market development, prestige development and also to tackle really big slices of the market internationally and having the right skilled workers to do that … and here in Gippsland we’ve got everything we need to be able to do that,” Ms Shing said.
The program is part of a $6 million program under the Regional and Specialist Training Fund.
