Between 18 and 20 June, the project team for the Essential Meat Processing Skills Project attended site visits with stakeholders in Western Australia, to observe work and training environments.
They visited several retail butchers including Torre Butchers and Torre and Mordini Artisan Butchery.
At Torre and Mordini Artisan Butchery they saw how the business is looking to pass knowledge onto the next generation by starting local school kids as kitchen hands as a way of introducing them to the industry. The business currently has two apprentices on staff: Rylie Schofield, who was runner up Apprentice of the Year at the 2022 Australian Meat Industry Council awards, and Jordan Lowry who took out the Western Australia Apprentice of the Year award in 2023. The team also visited two other retail butchers.
The team were also taken on a tour of the abattoir at Karnet Prison Farm and met some of the meat processing trainees. Karnet is a working farm that produces fresh meat, milk, eggs, fruit, and vegetables for the wider prison system. Training Solutions Australia deliver eight meat processing qualifications at Karnet, including some under review as part of this project. As part of the training program, inmates are linked to local industry employers to help them secure employment when they leave prison.
These site visits enabled the team to gain valuable insights into job roles in the industry and how the meat processing qualifications are being used.
Skills Insight also hosted a consultation workshop for the project during this time to provide stakeholders with further information about the project and how they can provide input.
We are grateful to everyone who made these visits possible or who attended the workshop.
