Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance today launched the ‘Rural Skills Passport’, a new initiative to encourage the exchange of labour between the agricultural and mining sectors.
The ‘Rural Skills Passport’ was developed by the Department of Agriculture and Food, in consultation with Mid West TAFE, the Mid West Development Commission, the Mid West Mining Alliance, Mingenew Irwin and Liebe grower groups.
Mr Chance said the passport was essentially a formal record of an agricultural worker’s qualifications.
“The passport outlines a person’s skills in technical areas, such as heavy machinery driving and maintenance, chemical handling, construction and earthworks, as well as skills in supervision, negotiation and project management abilities,” he said.
“In addition, the passport also highlights qualifications obtained, courses attended, and any community interests.
“The passport was originally developed as part of a Department of Agriculture and Food project, looking at sustainable workforce options in the northern agricultural region.
“Essentially, the skills passport has the potential for broader application across other sectors and to be adopted State wide.”
The Minister said in addition to the passport, the Mid West Workforce Alliance had been formed to address labour issues in the northern agricultural region.
“Today a workshop will be held to further examine how the agricultural and mining sectors in the region operate in an effort to gain a collective understanding of their respective labour requirements,” Mr Chance said.
“It will also look at how to further develop the required flexibility where labour exchange can occur freely between these sectors during their peek demand periods.”
Information on the ‘Rural Skills Passport’ is available from the Department of Agriculture and Food by contacting Kay Bodman by phone on 9368 3149 or via email on k.bodman@agric.wa.gov.au.
Minister's office - 9213 6700 
