Queensland’s Mossman Gorge provided a stunning backdrop today as six young Indigenous people commenced their apprenticeship journeys in the hospitality industry.
Federal Vocational Education and Skills Assistant Minister Karen Andrews and Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch visited Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia to meet the new apprentices and trainees.
Minister Andrews said the four hospitality trainees and two commercial cookery apprentices had an exciting future ahead of them.
“It is hard to imagine a better location to start out on a VET journey than Mossman Gorge, and to have a group of six apprentices and trainees who’ll be working and learning right here, I’m a little envious,” Minister Andrews said.
“The hospitality industry is a great employer in this region and there is considerable demand for people with real skills and qualifications in this sector, especially commercial cookery.
“A VET pathway is a great way to gain real skills for real careers and Voyages’ six new apprentices and trainees will find it opens the doorway to success and rewarding career options.”
The profits from Voyages’ business activities and the Indigenous Land Corporation go towards supporting Indigenous training and employment across Australia, including Ayres Rock Resort at Uluru and Home Valley Station in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.
Mr Entsch said VET delivered significant benefits to the whole of Far North Queensland.
“It was great to meet these young apprentices and trainees as they signed on this morning, and to see their excitement as they took their first steps in the careers that lay ahead of them,” Mr Entsch said.
“The Mossman Gorge Centre provides apprenticeships and traineeships for local community members each year, and its employee base is around 90 per cent Indigenous.
“It also offers additional Indigenous apprenticeship and traineeship places to people from remote and regional communities right around Australia.”
The four hospitality trainees will join the Busy with Hospitality program run at the Mossman Gorge Centre in partnership with Busy at Work, and will receive a Certificate III in Hospitality on completion.