BuildSkills Australia’s 10-year Water Sector Workforce Roadmap project is currently underway, drawing on stakeholder input from across the sector. Key project updates include:
- Surveys and interviews are ongoing and will continue for several more weeks to capture workforce insights from key industry employers.
- Interviews with workers have now been completed, providing valuable insights into how people have entered the water industry, and their subsequent career journeys. Special thanks to everyone who donated to WaterAid Australia as part of these consultations.
- Nine of the twelve roundtable sessions have been completed nationally, with sessions in Canberra and Melbourne remaining. A workshop was also held at Ozwater’26, alongside separate briefings with key industry stakeholders.
From later this month, our team will be attending industry events to share emerging insights from the work completed to date. While many of the challenges identified may be familiar, the focus now tuns to developing practical solutions. Thank you to those who have contributed their time and perspectives to help shape this important work.
Recurring challenges identified to date include:
- Accessing industry workforce data
- Fragmented and diverse industry structures
- Thin and uneven training markets
- Weak career visibility and attraction
- Limited workforce formation pipelines
- Outsourcing (growing) blurring workforce boundaries
- A need for capability assurance in critical roles, and
- Specific regional and remote pressures.
Roundtables will continue to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to contribute before future priorities are more clearly defined, but at the moment, actions around water operator capability, workforce planning, improving attraction, retention and entry pathways, capability in digital and emerging skills and ways of improving training system responsiveness are likely to be developed. Further feedback on the National Water Training Package is also welcomed to help inform any potential case for review.
The Roadmap report is expected to be released later this year; however, work on priority initiatives is already underway, including the recently launched VET Workforce Recruitment Campaign.
If you have not yet participated in consultation activities and have a great idea, please contact David Cameron at davidc@buildskills.com.au.
