2025 Policy Priorities
Education, Workforce & Skills
Nurturing a future pipeline of skilled workers is essential to the continued operation and growth of the South Australian resources sector. Furthermore, ensuring that the community understands the value of the resources sector to their everyday lives is central to this priority.SACOME will build upon work undertaken in past years to expand its STEM Digital Technology Education Program to State schools.
Alongside this, SACOME will continue to provide a point of liaison between its member companies and government to ensure that the current and future education, skills and workforce requirements of our sector are fully represented. Building on the success of the ResourcelfulSA community education campaign in 2020 and delivered in partnership with the South Australian Government in 2024, SACOME will further amplify the reach of the campaign in 2025 to reap the benefits of sustained and consistent messaging in multi-year campaigns. |
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ResourcefulSA Campaign
Having generated more than 37.7 million impressions in 2024, SACOME acknowledges the financial support of the South Australian Government, which enabled the ResourcefulSA campaign to reach 1 in 4 South Australians through paid digital, outdoor and transit media. In response to encouraging community sentiment polling in June and December 2024, SACOME will be commencing the next phase of the ResourcefulSA campaign in 2025.
With the purpose of educating and inspiring the South Australian community about the value of the resources sector and the products it delivers, the ResourcecefulSA campaign is designed to primarily elevate the perception of the resources sector amongst women and young adults. While this has been the section of the South Australian population with lower sector engagement, the results of the polling are encouraging. 83% of adults now know about the resources sector compared to 78% in 2023, and there has been strong cut through with the key target of young adults. The strongest results in terms of recall come from social media, with 40% of 18 to 34-year-olds recalling seeing the campaign. Polling also revealed that there is a significant appetite to see more of the campaign and that 45% of respondents who had not seen it before believed the campaign had not been shown enough. The campaign's strongest attributes remain that it is informative, clear and credible, making viewers think more positively about the South Australian resources sector. This feedback will inform SACOME's approach towards the design of the 2025 campaign. Community knowledge and understanding of the South Australian resources sector has strengthened significantly over the 2024 campaign and is now at its highest level since tracking began in 2019. Further information here... |
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Digital STEM Digital Technology Education Pilot
SACOME calls for the South Australian Government to fund the implementation of the STEM Digital Technology Education Program to provide a tangible link between the State Government's two education initiatives – the three-year-old preschool program and the technical colleges. The STEM Digital Technology Education Program aims to teach fundamental STEM skills, increase student interest in technology-based career pathways, and support a future pipeline of skilled workers crucially needed for the South Australian resources sector, and to meet the challenges of decarbonisation, industrial transformation and energy transition.
Teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in schools is vital to ensuring South Australia keeps pace with technological change relevant to advancing its economic and social goals. In May 2024, SACOME launched the Digital Technology Education Program supported by industry partners BHP, Nyrstar, Hillgrove Resources, Fortescue and SIMEC Mining. This SACOME-funded pilot program was implemented in six Catholic Education schools: • St Barbara’s Parish School, Roxby Downs • St Mark’s College, Port Pirie • St Francis de Sales College, Mt Barker • Caritas College, Port Augusta • Samaritan College, Whyalla • St Aloysius College, Adelaide The Program is based on the highly successful Digital Technologies Program implemented by the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia (CMEWA) at over 70 schools in regional WA, with expansion to a further 200 schools as a next step. It is also presently being considered for introduction into State schools by the Queensland Government. Based on the positive response from students and educators to the pilot program, and supporting data from CMEWA, SACOME calls on the South Australian Government to implement the Digital Technology Education Program in South Australian State schools to support the pipeline of students required for the resources, advanced manufacturing and engineering sectors. Investment in the STEM Digital Technology Program would ensure that more students across South Australia benefit from high-quality STEM education, fostering a new generation of innovators and problem-solvers who will be critical to our state's economic and technological development. SACOME progressed discussions with the Treasurer and Minister for Education regarding expansion of the STEM Digital Technology Education Program to South Australian State schools in 2024. Securing funding for the Program's expansion is a key priority in 2025. Read more about the rollout of the STEM Digital Technology Education Program |