Riverina TAFE renews contract with Defence

The Federal Member for Riverina, Mrs Kay Hull, representing the Minister for Defence Senator Robert Hill, announced the productive partnership between the Defence Force and TAFE NSW Riverina Institute would continue with a renewed contract for technical training at Wagga Wagga.

Mrs Hull said a new six-year contract ensured continuity in the existing training arrangements and also represented an ongoing commitment by TAFE NSW and Defence staff to provide the best possible training for new Defence personnel.

TAFE NSW and Defence staff work together to provide initial aviation technical training for the three services and a range of Air Force postgraduate technical training at the RAAF School of Technical Training located at RAAF Base Wagga.

Mrs Hull said TAFE NSW Riverina Institute had held the training contract for the past seven years and the new contract, valued at $77 million, would start from January 1 next year. There is also an option for the Commonwealth to extend the contract to 10 years.

New Defence recruits from all three services complete their initial aviation technical training at Wagga under the combined training skills of TAFE NSW and military instructors. The training, both classroom and practical, covers a range of aircraft and avionics technical courses, aircraft structural courses, and aircraft life support courses.

The school is primarily devoted to the initial employment training but also caters for a range of Air Force postgraduate technical training in fields such as advanced aircraft machining, advanced avionics and computer aided maintenance. TAFE NSW instructors conduct postgraduate courses.

Courses conducted at Wagga range from about one week for familiarisation or introductory courses to more than 15 months for the initial employment training. About 100 Riverina Institute staff and 110 Defence personnel are involved in running the school, which handles an estimated 1500 students annually.

Under the new contract, Mrs Hull said the Riverina Institute would also provide a range of support services including education, training, administration, management, maintenance of training aids, supply and general engineering support.

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