Minister for Skills John Barilaro today congratulated the 500^th apprentice employed at the Barangaroo Skills Exchange (BSX) hub that allows apprentices to apply their trade on-site.

Mr Barilaro also joined the 50^th Indigenous apprentice to celebrate the partnership between TAFE NSW, Lendlease and the Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council.

“Almost 7,000 workers have had the chance to complete on the job training, which will provide the apprentices with the skills to invest in their future careers,” Mr Barilaro said.

“Our investment in the skilled workforce of the future will provide more training opportunities for the growing construction industry in NSW, which is set to increase by almost 13 per cent over the next five years.

“This is an infrastructure Government and these projects clearly showcase how we can create opportunities for apprentices and trainees to build their skills.

“The BSX program is what success looks like because it provides an opportunity for TAFE Institutes to work side by side with private providers and this is best practice,” Mr Barilaro said.

The BSX focuses on:

• Developing innovative and customer focused delivery methods;
• Providing community, school and TAFE based learning;
• Delivering work based learning models with trade qualification outcomes;
• Partnerships with public and private training providers; and,
• A ‘One Barangaroo’ framework and management model for the facilitation of partnerships, funding opportunities and stakeholder engagement across all parts of the Project.