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2021 Brings new opportunities
I hope all our readers had a wonderful Christmas and New Year holiday. This year hopefully will be a little more stable and accountable in relation to the dealings with COVID – 19 and the challenges around the state management. I must commend the State Government of the handling of a very difficult set of circumstances of this pandemic and can report first hand that South Australia is by far one of the best places to be residing during these tough times.
I commend all the plumbing businesses in SA and the NT for their resilience and conformity to acting responsibly to ensure the health and welfare of the communities. As an essential service it is paramount to be well informed and have high communication mechanisms in place to manage these challenges. 2021 will see new operational processes and probably a lot more efficiencies in how businesses manage.
This year Master Plumbers SA will strive to provide greater benefits and services for members, it is important that members embrace the offerings as well as provide feedback on which other benefits could assist in greater opportunities. Our networking with the other subcontractor associations will provide a stronger voice to government and hopefully lead to greater contractual arrangements and less risk to our members.
It is important for members to contact us should you feel there are problems around licensing, plumbing regulations or practices that are detrimental to our industry. Our focus around working together to make the industry more sustainable with greater knowledge, greater expertise and high standards of workmanship should be primary in everyone’s mind. We look forward to assisting our members in all areas of business and to strengthen our relationships.
The objective to ensure our industry is well equipped with new entrants into the industry means apprenticeships are high on our agenda, so if you are able to take on an apprentice or even provide a work experience opportunity for a school leaver please ensure you contact the association and help support the industry.
p-teCH program
We are pleased to announce our partnership in the Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) Program with St Patrick’s Technical College. The P-TECH model is focused on supporting young people make a successful transition from school to work. This program will support students considering a career in plumbing and provide them the entry level skills required by industry, all whilst completing their SACE.
Master Plumbers SA will collaborate with St Patrick’s Technical College in developing an innovative curriculum and approach to learning, industry mentoring and support, and provide links to employment.
Host Employers located in the North will now be able to liaise with Master Plumbers in finding a St Pat’s student to take on as an apprentice with their business. We will also assist in providing work experience opportunities and school-based apprenticeships for successful candidates.
Vet in sCHools program
Our VET in schools program is running again in 2021 and we are looking forward to working with our partner schools to ensure quality students have the opportunities to enter the trade. The schools have been the source for many apprentices throughout the years and we hope this continues in 2021.
roadsHows
This year we will be limiting our number of regional roadshows with a view of conducting a webinar that hopefully will provide greater access to more regional members. The schedule of venues has been distributed via our magazine, member emails and website.
The Office of Technical Regulator (OTR) are passionate about ensuring more of the industry tune into the changes to standards and work towards better compliance of installation work. It is a costly exercise to rectify work that does not comply with installation standards. The time invested to attend these information roadshows or webinars saves time and money.
master plumBers sa trainer CHanges
It is with sadness that Craig Webber who was the Master Plumbers SA VET trainer has resigned from the team to take on a new role at Carey Training. Craig was integral in continuing the great work from our previous trainers in coordinating the schools and the courses alongside Crystal.
We wish Craig all the best in his new role and thank him for his support and efforts with us over the past few years.
On a positive note, we welcome back Don Sims who has retired more times than Johnny Farnham has made comeback tours. Don is an outstanding individual who is so passionate about educating the youth of today, he steps back into the role on a part time basis to ensure the association is well represented and continues with the program that provides so many opportunities for school students.
Andrew Clarke
Executive Officer
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CEO EDITORIAL