Two Broome women, Laurenzia Divilli and Chanelle Williams, announced as finalists in WA Training Awards
Beauty Therapy student Laurenzia Divilli was announced as a finalist in the WA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year category and Early Childhood Education and Care TAFE lecturer Chanelle Williams was announced as a finalist in the WA Trainer of the Year category.
Ms Williams played a pivotal role in leading the Early Childcare Education and Care team at North Regional TAFE and developing an Early Childhood skillset pilot program aimed at attracting local residents into the early childhood education sector.
Motivated to represent Indigenous women in the beauty industry, and demonstrate career paths for others, Ms Divilli completed a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy at North Regional TAFE Broome.
She has also earned qualifications in Leadership and Business and currently works in administration, where she is expanding her professional experience.
Skills and TAFE Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said this year's individual finalists are fantastic ambassadors for vocational training, with their unique stories representative of the many ways vocational training transforms lives.
'The WA Training Awards recognise the outstanding talent, achievements and contributions individuals and organisations make to our world-class vocational training sector,' she said.
'I'm especially thrilled to see that regional Western Australians represent 21 out of the 32 individual finalists, highlighting the important role our regional WA TAFEs play in providing affordable and accessible training in their local communities.
'I congratulate this year's finalists, and look forward to celebrating their success at the 2025 WA Training Awards presentation ceremony in September.'
Individual award recipients will become ambassadors for WA's vocational training sector, where they work to inspire others to take up vocational training.
Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services was also announced as a finalist in the Industry Collaboration Award for their work across the region including their 2023 allied health pilot program, upskilling family support workers with a Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance.
The 2025 WA Training Awards will be presented at a ceremony in September with individual recipients also taking home a $3000 cash prize.
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West Australian
6 days ago
- West Australian
Two Broome women, Laurenzia Divilli and Chanelle Williams, announced as finalists in WA Training Awards
Two Broome women have been recognised in this year's WA Training Awards for going above and beyond in their chosen field being selected as two of 43 finalists. Beauty Therapy student Laurenzia Divilli was announced as a finalist in the WA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year category and Early Childhood Education and Care TAFE lecturer Chanelle Williams was announced as a finalist in the WA Trainer of the Year category. Ms Williams played a pivotal role in leading the Early Childcare Education and Care team at North Regional TAFE and developing an Early Childhood skillset pilot program aimed at attracting local residents into the early childhood education sector. Motivated to represent Indigenous women in the beauty industry, and demonstrate career paths for others, Ms Divilli completed a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy at North Regional TAFE Broome. She has also earned qualifications in Leadership and Business and currently works in administration, where she is expanding her professional experience. Skills and TAFE Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said this year's individual finalists are fantastic ambassadors for vocational training, with their unique stories representative of the many ways vocational training transforms lives. 'The WA Training Awards recognise the outstanding talent, achievements and contributions individuals and organisations make to our world-class vocational training sector,' she said. 'I'm especially thrilled to see that regional Western Australians represent 21 out of the 32 individual finalists, highlighting the important role our regional WA TAFEs play in providing affordable and accessible training in their local communities. 'I congratulate this year's finalists, and look forward to celebrating their success at the 2025 WA Training Awards presentation ceremony in September.' Individual award recipients will become ambassadors for WA's vocational training sector, where they work to inspire others to take up vocational training. Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services was also announced as a finalist in the Industry Collaboration Award for their work across the region including their 2023 allied health pilot program, upskilling family support workers with a Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance. The 2025 WA Training Awards will be presented at a ceremony in September with individual recipients also taking home a $3000 cash prize.
West Australian
26-07-2025
- West Australian
Kimberley pharmacy workers encouraged to train to fill rural GP gap
Local pharmacists are being encouraged to take up subsidised training for a graduate certificate in pharmacy prescribing in an effort to tackle the rural GP shortage. The call from Health Minister Meredith Hammat comes after the State Government announced up to 80 community pharmacists would undergo training to begin diagnosing more ailments from late 2026 in a bid to ease pressure on GPs, expanding a trial that currently allows pharmacists to manage contraceptive pills and diagnose and treat urinary tract infections. Visiting Kimberley Pharmacy Services on Thursday, Ms Hammat said her trip was about liaising with local services to encourage participation. 'We're really keen to ensure that people in regional WA, consider taking part in the graduate certificate training so that they can be a part of the pilot when it rolls out in the second part of next year,' she said. 'We know it can be difficult for people, particularly in regional areas to get access to a GP, so what we want to do is provide more access for Western Australians and more choice so that when people need to get treatment for everyday health conditions, they are able to come and see their community pharmacists.' The training for a graduate certificate in pharmacy prescribing will take six to 12 months to complete and will be delivered by WA universities. Training will also be subsidised up to $12,000 for some participants, according to the Minister. 'One of the really important things that we've also included as part of this program is a commitment in this year's State Budget for $1.26 million to make available subsidies for some of the people that apply to do that training,' Ms Hammat said. A 12-month pilot program will roll out in the second half of 2026, which will also see the scope of practice for community pharmacists expand to include programs to help people quit smoking. Kimberley Pharmacy Services managing partner Hannah Mann said rural pharmacies play a central role in providing healthcare for their communities. 'We want to offer more to our communities and we want to be part of the health services that are available,' she said. 'We see a lot of patients that we have to send to the hospital or to an urgent care clinic to get a prescription, so I think being able to actually offer that full service without having to send patients away who then come back with a prescription anyway is great.' She said the subsidised training would go a long way for rural participants. 'When you're coming from a rural and remote area, training can be a big undertaking,' Ms Mann said. 'You might be taking time off work, organising childcare, travel, needing to pay for airfares to participate in face-to-face training. 'So we really appreciate the State Government and the Health Department's acknowledgement that the cost of the participation if you're from a rural and remote area are substantial, and for recognising that we are a really important part of the health picture in rural and remote areas.' It comes as Broome continues to suffer from a GP shortage, with waiting times for an appointment at the only remaining clinic in town regularly exceeding a month. Ms Hammat said she was aware of the shortage across regional WA and is working with the Federal Government to make GP access more equitable. 'We are regularly talking to the Federal Government about what more they can do to support GPs,' she said. 'They do control a lot of the settings for GPs, both in terms of the new key rebates that are available and some of the things that might impact on internationally trained doctors coming and working in regional areas. 'So we'll continue to advocate for the Federal Government to do as much as we can to make sure there is a strong network of GPs in the State.'
SBS Australia
25-07-2025
- SBS Australia
Queensland's homeschooling parents pleased with outcome from review
A win for homeschooling parents in Queensland, fighting to make the system more accessible for families. The Queensland government has accepted all 8 recommendations of an independent review into the Home Education Unit. The regulatory review, which published its report in September 2024, was prompted by widespread opposition to the previous state government's attempts to enforce legislation that would impose the Australian curriculum on homeschooling students. That move was firmly rejected by parents like Danika, who homeschools her neurodiverse 8-year-old son Ben. Danika says she's most excited about a recommendation to trial a shorter style of written reporting, alongside an online interview. She says this would offer a promising alternative for Queensland parents, after a positive experience with a moderator while homeschooling in Western Australia. "Whereas in Queensland, you feel it's just cross your fingers and hope that you can continue to do, and there's a lot of uncertainty around the processes over here, and it is quite daunting to submit a report every 12 months with no real guidance, no real reassurance that you are doing what they require. Having a person to report to would be humanising to the procedure, so that would be quite nice to have someone, a face, face to the documents would be nice. So yeah, I think that it is very exciting to have that process possibly come into play for us and just alleviate that kind of stressor." Sunshine-based parents Danika and her husband Joel, made the shift to homeschooling in 2022 after Ben's classroom anxiety reached a tipping point. Danika is among thousands of Queensland parents who moved to homeschool their children after 2020, with the Queensland government saying there was a 230% increase in home education over the past 5 years. It brings the current number of homeschooling students in Queensland to more than 11,000. Brisbane-based Patricia Fitzgerald is campaign manager of the Free2Homeschool movement, which gathered more than 21,000 signatures opposing the former Queensland government's attempts to enforce the Australian curriculum on homeschoolers. She says the government's decision to accept all of the report's recommendations is a great move forward for the community. 'I just think that with the reviews, the recommendations that have been proposed, it's going to be a really good opportunity for the HEU to connect with the community and build that connection and more support rather than just having the regulatory side. Having that educational leader there to bridge that gap and to build that supportive side as well is going to help a lot of the families who are trying to find that information and trying to find the community." Ms Fitzgerald pointing to the first of the recommendations - to transform the Home Education Unit, which will be renamed Queensland Home Education, to ensure greater practical support and regulatory oversight. There are hopes the appointment of education leader Dr Renae Acton will improve processes for families, alongside enhancing resources, such as program templates and exemplar annual reports. Queensland's Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek told SBS he supports a parent's right to choose the best type of education for their family. "We as a government support choice, I've done distance education myself or correspondence as we called it, partly because I lived in another country in Papua New Guinea. And the important thing is that if parents choose to do it, we want to make sure we support them just as we support them in the other frames of schooling that they might choose, whether it's state or non-state schooling." Minister Langbroek couldn't outline a date for when the recommendations would be legislated, saying his government prioritises consultation. This comes as legislation to raise the age cut-off from 17 to 18 for homeschooling students is still under review, after it was tabled in March. But Mr Langbroek says some of the recommendations from the regulatory review are already being enacted - including changing the name of the unit to Queensland Home Education, as well as extending the stakeholder consultation via the Home Education Expert group, by another six months. "We used to criticise the former government for consulting but already having made a decision about something. So this is genuine consultation with the group, so we want to keep the momentum going about the positive work we've been able to do with parents and stakeholders, and then continue parent engagement before we try to make any legislative change." One of the key aspects of the recommendations is to enhance resources and supportive tools for parents meeting regulatory requirements. Danika welcomes access to learning programs and reporting scaffolds, which are particularly helpful in teaching a neurodiverse child with individualised learning. "The learning plan that I have for Ben being neurodiverse, we very much follow his interests at the time. And having an online reporting scaffolding will really help me just report as we learn because we do have a plan in place, but obviously following just natural interests and natural ways of learning, it does change as we go. So having a formalised reporting structure will help us just keep tabs on where we're at and what we're learning and how we're learning it." But she would like to see state and local governments offer greater support for homeschooling co-ops, which allow groups of homeschooling families to collaborate and provide educational and social opportunities for their children. "We really need the support from local government backed by, sorry local councils backed by government, to ensure that we are setting up safe spaces for our children. All the boxes are being ticked to keep it a safe environment for our children and that they can continue to build regular foundational relationships within those groups instead of being shut down every couple of months because local councils are getting one complaint from someone who doesn't agree with the way that we are teaching our children. So I think that's another way that the government could help us all support us on our journey." The Queensland Family and Child Commission released a separate report in December 2024, in response to concerns raised by the Child Death Review Board in their 2022-2023 report. It "affirmed a parent's right to choose the most suitable learning environment for their child", but called for improved information-sharing between state government departments to ensure child safety. Minister Langbroek told SBS that his government are considering the work of the Queensland Family and Child Commission, acknowledging past obstacles around information sharing. "And Premier Crisafulli has been very clear that he wants me as education minister working closely with the Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm, the Attorney General Deb Frecklington, and
