On the 2nd of February, 2023 the Shadow Minister for Skills, Tim Crakanthorp, visited the MTA NSW headquarters to learn about our apprenticeship training programs and discuss the importance of electric vehicle safety training. The recently established EV safety training program has been put in place to educate the industry as it makes it shift towards EVs. The Shadow minister was impressed with the training facilities and programs available. MTA NSW has invested $1 million dollars in specialised EV equipment to ensure that the workforce have the right education and safety skills required to adapt to this transition. Stavros Yallouridis, CEO of MTA NSW spoke to the Shadow Minister about the financial burden faced by automotive businesses who are required to upskill their workforce. It is estimated that almost 50,000 automotive technicians across NSW will need training in order to safely work on EVS, with a cost of around $100 million to the industry. This cost will be borne by small and family-owned businesses across the state and does not include the necessary infrastructure and space required for servicing EVs. The importance of government funding is needed to prepare the automotive industry for its biggest transition in modern history. The workforce needs to be equipped with the right skills, safety training and support to adapt to the changing servicing needs of their customers. Mr Tim Crakanthorp, Shadow Minister for Skills praised MTA NSW for leading the change in upskilling the automotive workforce for EVs and acknowledged the importance of the automotive sector which is made of many small and family-run businesses. Read the full article here