NSW Public Sector ITAB December 2025 Newsletter

Best Wishes for the Festive Season

As we approach the end of year break and on behalf NSW Public Sector ITAB, I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to our industry and training system stakeholders for your continued support and collaboration. Together we have made strong progress over the past 12 months, strengthening partnerships and advancing skills and workforce priorities across several of our sectors despite ongoing challenges. I look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead and wish you a safe, restful and rewarding festive season with family and friends, and a successful year to come.

GTAN AND WTAN November Forums – Resources available

Facilitated by the NSW Public Sector ITAB, the Government & Public Safety and Water Industry Skills and Training Networks (GTAN and WTAN) meet regularly to share and discuss issues impacting skill development within government, public safety and water industries across metropolitan, regional and rural NSW.

On behalf of the two networks, I’d like to thank all presenters who so generously shared their insights at the GTAN & WTAN forums held across 2025.

All GTAN and WTAN forum resources are available on the ITAB website. You can find past newsletters under the ‘News’ tab and past forum resources under ‘Events’.

The proposed dates for the 2026 GTAN and WTAN forums are

Tuesday 24 February 2026 (am & pm)
Tuesday 12 May 2026. (am & pm)

Save them in your diary now.

Access Resources

National Skills Ministers set reform priorities for 2026

Federal, state and territory Skills Ministers met in Darwin on 5 December for their final meeting of 2025, reaffirming a strong, shared commitment to strengthening Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system. Ministers reflected on significant progress made this year through the National Skills Agreement, including the permanence of Free TAFE, expansion of foundation skills, establishment of 14 TAFE Centres of Excellence, stronger RTO standards, and ongoing work to Close the Gap with First Nations partners.

Looking ahead, Ministers plan to focus on improving apprenticeship and traineeship outcomes, particularly student completions, wellbeing and the overall user experience for apprentices and employers. They discussed the growing role of higher-level apprenticeships in addressing skills shortages, reaffirmed commitment to gender equality and inclusion in VET, and noted progress on national qualification reform led by Jobs and Skills Councils.

Ministers also agreed on further measures to strengthen VET integrity, improve national data standards, advance a more joined-up tertiary system, and endorsed key strategic documents including the National TAFE Network Strategic Plan 2025–2028 and the National Skills Plan 2025–2026, setting a clear reform agenda for the year ahead.

Read the Ministerial Council’s Joint Communique here.

NSW boosts funding for Surf Life Saving drone surveillance of sharks

The NSW Government has announced a $2.5 million funding uplift to expand Surf Life Saving NSW’s (SLSNSW) world-leading shark surveillance program using drone technology ahead of a busy summer season. The investment will see drone patrols start earlier, operate for longer, and extend into autumn across key NSW beaches.

From 13 December, drone surveillance will begin a week earlier at 33 beaches, expanding to daily patrols at 50 locations from 20 December through to the end of January. With the additional funding, weekend patrols at all 50 beaches will continue until late March, representing a 26 per cent increase in overall coverage.

SLSNSW has delivered drone-based shark surveillance across NSW for nearly a decade, with last summer alone recording more than 18,000 drone flights and hundreds of shark sightings, enabling timely beach evacuations and preventative actions.

The funding also includes the installation of shark bite trauma kits at emergency response beacons in high-risk coastal locations, further strengthening beach safety and emergency response for communities and visitors this summer.

Read the full article on the NSW Surf Life Saving website.

National Jobs and Skills Council Update

Jobs and Skills Councils (JSCs) are a national network of industry owned and led organisations, designed to provide leadership in addressing national skills and training needs. They have been established to supply industry with a strong and strategic voice within the VET sector as part of broader government-led skills reform.

JSC activities including Workforce and Training Package projects relevant to Public Sector industries are listed below.

BuildSkills Australia (BSA): BuildSkills is conducting both Training Product and Research Projects which can be accessed using the links below:

Water industry stakeholders should reach out to George Wall for any specific water sector issues.

Future Skills Organisation (FSO): FSO has a range of Projects underway which can be accessed using the links below:

Public Skills Australia (PSA): Access PSA’s current projects via the links below.