The cross-border region of the Murray Mallee (including New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria) is taking regionally-led steps to Rebalance the Nation by ensuring the local workforce is optimised and future-ready through their Cross-Border Industry Taskforce.
The Murray Mallee is an area on the cusp of significant growth, with the development of new and extended renewable energy, critical minerals and irrigated horticultural and agricultural projects. These projects provide an opportunity for an expanded local workforce but come in the context of an already tight labour market.
Communities in the region want to build a workforce for the future – to increase the development and mobilisation of a local workforce via career pathways for local youth; to provide opportunities for underemployed, disengaged or otherwise marginalised cohorts; and the attraction of new permanent residents to the region, rather than relying on transient workers.
The idea of the forum emerged to bring key stakeholders and influencers together to discuss how to capitalise on the opportunities facing the region. Many in the 14 Local Government Areas this region spans across NSW, SA and Victoria, are aware of what is happening in their own area, but there is little visibility about how it can all come together across borders.
The forum provided an opportunity to raise awareness of opportunities to develop a skilled local workforce across borders that could meet the next 30 years of demand locally, rather than rely on a fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) workforce which provides minimal long-term benefits to the region.
The forum was hosted in partnership by the NSW Government, Victoria State Government, Regional Development Australia Murray, Regional Mallee Partnerships, Balranald Shire Council, Mildura Rural City Council, Robinvale Euston Workforce Network and the RAI.
The forum brought together industry, skills and training sector representatives and local, state and federal governments to begin the development of a Cross Border Future Industry Workforce Roadmap to guide a localised skilled workforce to meet the needs of these sectors.
The roadmap has since formed the framework for the 12-member Cross-Border Industry Taskforce (CBIT), developed to continue the work of the forum and collaborate on cross-border workforce challenges. The Taskforce has three broad themes, focusing on:
- Growing the local workforce by encouraging students finishing secondary school to consider a career in regional industries,
- Attracting and retaining workers through internal and international migration and,
- Engaging more locals, including people who are underemployed, disengaged and other marginalised cohorts.
Recommendations and opportunities identified by the CBIT are being forwarded to a cross-border government group that includes Cross Border Commissioners, regional development and senior skills officials from Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The taskforce is also sharing contributions to government inquiries and reviews, including the regional migration settings review currently underway, and will continue to collaborate to shape a stronger workforce and region into the future.
“The CBIT was a unique collaboration of industries that would normally be in competition for skilled and semi-skilled staff. Given the scale of what is coming down the pipeline though, we need to work together to maximise the region’s prosperity”. – Bernie Hyde, CBIT Chairman.