![Shaw Contracting project manager Meaghan Volker at Quercus Park, the proposed site of Earthworks Training- Dig, Drive, Go. Picture by Duncan Bailey Shaw Contracting project manager Meaghan Volker at Quercus Park, the proposed site of Earthworks Training- Dig, Drive, Go. Picture by Duncan Bailey](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184500760/0ef50616-c6c6-46b8-bdef-f33ab82df04f.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Tasmanian Liberals pledged to build Tasmania's first purpose-built civil construction training site at Quercus Park, if re-elected.
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Titled Earthworks Training - Dig, Drive, Go, the $4.3 million facility would offer hands on training through a live, simulated construction training site for young workers looking to join the civil construction sector.
Shaw Contracting project manager Meaghan Volker said the facility would build confidence in young workers.
"We don't always have the luxury of training young people on site if they don't come with training already," Ms Volker said.
"To have people out here who can do consistent training, get their tickets and come to our sights fully formed would be a great initiative for the whole industry."
She said getting young women into the industry was important.
"I can see we have some great young women in our business now and you can see the culture changing around them," she said.
![Premier Jeremy Rockliff has a go in the Excavator. Picture by Duncan Bailey Premier Jeremy Rockliff has a go in the Excavator. Picture by Duncan Bailey](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184500760/98c1531d-6c43-4fc2-b681-74ff03b8b8fd.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"People think it's a really blokey site, it's not so much anymore. I think even in the last five to 10 years, it's changed a lot and there's real opportunity for young women who want to come and make a real difference."
Civil Contractors Federation Tasmania chief executive Andrew Winch said the facility would work as a live training site.
"The opportunity with a space like this is you can dig holes safely, with some control and still learn but learn in a real environment."
"Tickets that can be trained here are quite broad, the main ones are excavators ... from the agriculture perspective, we can do other equipment in agricultural forestry in a space like this."
He said with the pipeline of work the Liberals committed to, they would need a workforce of approximately 660 per year.
"Plus we have a lot of upskilling that we need to do within the sector as well to help us meet that pipeline of work," he said.
Skills, Training and Workforce Minister Felix Ellis said the Earthworks Training program would be a partnership between Civil Contractors Federation Tasmania and Rural Youth Tasmania.
"We know that to fulfill our $27 billion game-changing infrastructure pipeline, we need to train and employ more than 650 additional plant and machinery operators, and other critical sector occupations each year," Mr Ellis said.
"This program will significantly enhance the civil construction sector's ability to attract younger workers, especially more female workers, and will strengthen the school-based pathways into the sector."
Should the Liberals be re-elected, the facility is expected to open to all current and future registered training organisations, including TasTAFE by 2025.