$359.8m investment by Australia aims to close skills gaps

Australia is committing AUD$229.5 million (FJD$359.8m) to help bridge skills gaps in Fiji's job market under the Australia Pacific Skills programme. 

The funding that runs from 2025 to 2029 also covers similar programme in Timor Leste. 

Pacific Australia Skills country director for Fiji Gareth McGrath says skills training under Pacific Australia Skills is designed to keep graduates working in Fiji, not to open doors for jobs in Australia.

Asked whether graduates from the hub would get a chance to work in Australia after completing their training, Mr McGrath said the programme was built around Fiji’s own labour market.

“The training that we’re developing is meant to lead to employment outcomes,” he said.

“Not within Australia, within Fiji to meet the domestic market, and that’s what this facility has been based on.”

The official opening of the refurbished Australia Pacific Skills training centre at Walu Bay is scheduled for next Monday in line with the high-level visit by Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. 

Mr Albanese and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will lead a bilateral meeting followed by a joint press conference at the Grand Pacific Hotel.

Higher Education Commission Fiji (HECF) communications officer Epineri Rawalai said Fiji was part of a wider regional trend of labour movement.

“We lose our workers to Australia and New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand lose them to the United States, and Bangladesh loses to Fiji,” he said.

“But skills gaps still exist.”

Mr Rawalai pointed to a national skills gap report, accessible through the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF), which outlines work currently undertaken by Fiji's Government and partners to address skill gaps through local training.

The newly refurbished Vuvale Skills Hub can accommodate up to close to 170 students. 

It was previously used for training under the now-concluded Australian Pacific Training Coalition (APTC), will serve as a shared space for Fiji's Technical and Vocational Education and Training providers.

“Pacific Australia Skills will be looking at enabling our partners, our close friends and colleagues, our peers within the TVET community to achieve success through skills training,” Mr McGrath said.

He confirmed qualifications earned under APTC, managed by TAFE Queensland, remain valid.

Mr McGrath said Pacific Australia Skills would work closely with the Fiji Commerce and Employment Federation (FCEF) and the National Employment Centre to address identified skills gaps.

“Maritime, the digital economy, as well as construction, and all of those areas regarding trades in relation to skills gaps,” he said, naming key sectors of focus.

Recruitment for training opportunities, he said, would be "fair, equitable and inclusive to all", including students from maritime schools nationwide.