Water Skills Partnership

2021 marks ten years of successful industry collaboration by the Water Skills Partnership to address critical skills needs facing the urban water industry in Queensland. In October 2021, the Partnership was awarded the Queensland Premier’s Industry Collaboration Training Award in recognition of the successful collaboration by water industry professionals to deliver initiatives to support Queensland water industry skilling and workforce development.

The Partnership performs a number of functions in this role including securing skills and training funding for industry, producing reports and workforce planning documentation, coordinating industry wide skills/workforce development projects, piloting training initiatives, information sharing and collaboration opportunities and representation for Queensland on numerous national industry skills committees.

The Partnership was created in 2011 as a new industry-led initiative to address critical skills needs facing the urban water industry in Queensland. It extends the work undertaken through the Water Skills Formation Strategy (SFS) which commenced in late 2009 supported by the Department of Education and Training and hosted by qldwater.

Priorities of the Water Skills Partnership are determined by subscribers with two meetings per year and input from the broader industry gathered at the annual Water Skills Forum. The forum brings together water and wastewater managers and HR representatives from across Queensland to discuss skilling and training needs for the sector and provides valuable insights for priority setting. 

There are currently 51 subscribers to the Queensland Water Skills Partnership for 2020-2021 including;