Industry welcomes Labor’s commitment to hospitality skills training

Industry welcomes Labor’s commitment to hospitality skills training

Industry welcomes Labor’s commitment to hospitality skills training

Australia’s Labor Party has announced a $48 million tourism and travel package which includes a $10 million injection in training and skills development for the hospitality and accommodation sectors.

Industry groups the Accommodation Association, Australian Hotels Association and Tourism Accommodation Australia, who have long called for additional funding for training, have welcomed the commitment.

“As one of the safest and most exciting destinations in the world, it is vital our accommodation and hospitality workforce has the necessary skills and training to provide wonderful customer service and experiences,” Accommodation Association President, and incoming Accommodation Australia President, Leanne Harwood, said.

“The statistics speak for themselves – we need to attract, educate and re-train 100,000 staff into hospitality after more than 40 per cent of our workforce was lost nationally during COVID.

“This funding will help us work with all training organisations to bring staff back into our resilient sector and help us build for a brighter future.”

Australian Hotels Association CEO, Stephen Ferguson, said the grant would support the industry to hire young and old, and retain strong talent.

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Sukh Sandhu

Executive Director

Sukh has been working in the VET and Higher Education Industry for over 25 years. In this time, he has held several roles with RTO's and Higher Education Providers (HEP) including CEO roles for International Colleges and National Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager roles for several RTO's, TAFE's and Universities. Sukh has also worked for the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as a Business Systems Project Official. Sukh is a Canadian permanent resident and Australian citizen.

Sukh has had extensive project management experience in risk management, compliance, administration and as a training consultant. He has extensive knowledge in government compliance standards and has participated in nearly one hundred audits across Australia and provided consultancy advice regarding ASQA/VRQA, TEQSA, ACPET, DET-HESG, VQF/Higher Education, ELICOS, NEAS, ANMAC, AHPRA, CRICOS, ESOS and ISO.

Sukh is a member of several independent professional organisations and government bodies including, ACPET, VELG, ACS, AITD, MARA, MIA, ISANA, APEX, IEEE, The Internet Society (Global Member), AISIP, IAMOT, ACM, OISV, APACALL, IWA, Eta Kappa Nu, EDSIG and several others.

Sukh's qualifications include two MBAs, three masters in IT and systems, a Graduate diploma of management learning, Diploma in training design and development, Diploma in vocational education training, Diploma of work, health and safety, Diploma of Quality Auditing, Advanced diploma of management, Advanced diploma in marketing, human resources, information technology, and a number of other courses and qualifications. He has been working as a lecturer and as a trainer and assessor since 1998, Sukh has been a vocal advocate of audit reforms and system centred auditing practices rather than auditor centred auditing practices for many years.