Mark Callaghan’s Welcome

Dear WorldSkills Supporter,

For two and a half hours on the night of the 14th of July, the spotlight was well and truly focused on the incredibly talented young Australians who competed with passion and dedication at the 2008 WorldSkills Australia National Competition. At the beautiful State Theatre in Sydney, Adam Spencer brought the competition to a close as the winners of all categories were announced. It was a fitting end to what had been a tremendous National competition.

Despite Sydney-siders being urged to stay home due to the pending World Youth Day celebrations, approximately 45,000 visitors witnessed the ‘best of the best’ over the three days of competition and I’m sure many of those would have come away with much more than the sausages they had made at the Meat Retailing Try’aTrade. All visitors would have left Darling Harbour knowing that they had witnessed the high quality skills base that exists in this country.

Of course planning has now commenced for the 2010 National competition as well as the next round of regional competitions and, for the team who will head to Calgary, Canada as the 2009 Skillaroos. However, before we move headlong into preparations for these events, I think that it is only fitting that we pause one more time to reflect on the 2008 National Competition and offer a final thank you to those, who without their support and efforts, an event the scale of the 2008 National Competition would not be possible.

The WorldSkills Australia National competition is now truly a major event and without the support, hard work, enthusiasm and passion of Government partners, industry sponsors and the WorldSkills army of volunteers we would not be able to provide a platform for Australia’s best to perform. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this National competition. It is through this continued hard work and support that we are able to inspire young Australians to achieve their goals and realise their dreams. Young Australians such as all the competitors in the 2008 National Competition. To all of you – good luck now and in the future.

Category Results

Congratulations to all competitors and medal winners! The results from the 2008 WorldSkills National Competition can be found on the WorldSkills Australia website. Individual medalist photos from the Presentation Ceremony can also be found on the WSA website.

 View Results from the 2008 WorldSkills National Competition.

Thank you to each and every one of you for your support and dedication to WorldSkills Australia and the competitors of the 2008 National Competition. The 2008 National Competition could not be made possible without the dedication, commitment and support of the National Organising Committee, Steve Hornery, Tony Wright, Adam Lucas, Greg Fahey and Dave Arnold. The 2008 Site Crew, truck drivers, forklift drivers, construction crew, IT crew, all the Electricians and the plumbers, Glenda Grice and the volunteers, judges and last but not least the Category Convenors, thank you all for the countless hours that you put in. The success of this year’s National Competition is a result of the dedication, of all of you, who have put so much time into the planning and delivery of not only your category areas, but the event as a whole.

A big thank you must go to the official competition photographer, Mathew Vasilescu - his amazing photography captured the competitors and atmosphere. A total of 9,700 photos were taken. Many of the photos are on the WSA website and of course, we extend another big thank you to our resident video journalist Josh Krasnostein for his daily video bites of the national competition. Also thank you to the MC of the Presentation Ceremony, Adam Spencer, Wes Carr, Australian Institute of Music, Ryde College Event Management students for a wonderful Presentation Ceremony. Thank you to all involved in making the competition a huge success.

It was great to see 27 Skillaroos/BBM representatives from 2007 back to assist with the 2008 National Competition. They kindly gave up their time to give back to WorldSkills and potentially the next generation of competitors to represent Australia on the world stage. Thank you.

John Rudge - Chief Judge, Electrical Installations
Dale McMullen - Judge, Automotive Mechanics
Michael Kirkwood-Smith - Judge, IT/Software Applications
Stuart Aisbett - Judge, Vehicle Painting
Christopher Nance - Chief Judge, VETiS Construction
Tim Hambly - Try’aTrade, Bricklaying
Shareena Sloan - Judge, Painting and Decorating
Chris Hopkins - Try’aTrade, Joinery
Daniel Hogarth - Try’aTrade, Plumbing
Kim Harrison - Try’aTrade, Printing and Graphic Arts
Joel Drew - Try’aTrade, Jewellery
Matthew Nunn - Try’aTrade, Manufacturing Team Challenge
Paul Neumann - Try’aTrade, Sheetmetal Work
Sarah Roswel l - Judge, VETiS Food and Beverage
Jacinta Harding - Try’aTrade, Floristry
David Thomas - Try’aTrade, Fluid Power
Michael Knight - Try’aTrade, Autobody Repair
Simon Buchanan - Try’aTrade, Landscape Gardening
Elisha Carter - Try’aTrade, Printing and Graphic Arts
Suwanna Rattananikom - Try’aTrade, Cooking
Matthew Ryan - Judge, Web Design
Mark Williams - Judge/Try’aTrade, Welding
Jodie Taylor - Try’aTrade, Business Services
Jessica Coote - Try’aTrade, Business Services
Ben Paige - Judge, Electrical Installations
Sam Pop - Demo, Manufacturing Team Challenge
Josh Morsillo - Judge,CAM

The Evatt Shield is awarded to the region with the best overall score for all competitors involved in the WorldSkills Australia National Competition. For the 2008 National Competition, the Winner of the Evatt Shield is Tasmania. Congratulations Tassie. The Tasmania region receives the Evatt Shield until the next National Competition in Brisbane in 2010. Tasmania region won the Evatt Shield at the 2006 National Competition in Melbourne. Well done, two nationals running!

Tasmania wins the Evatt Shield

WorldSkills Australia together with CareerOne, announce the inaugural award for Best Performing Competitor at a National Competition. In line with the WorldSkills International Competition, awarded for ‘Best in Nation’, which was awarded to Dale McMullen in Japan last year, WorldSkills Australia is proud to have developed the ‘Best Performing Competitor award with CareerOne. 

The CareerOne Award for Best Performing Competitor is Luke Davies from the Turning Category. Luke had the highest score across the 2008 WorldSkills Australia National Competition. Luke is from the Sydney West Region. His employer is Eddie Dobbin and Sons Engineering. Luke trained at the TAFE NSW Northern Sydney Institute, MeadowBank Campus.

Dr Stephen Holling presents Luke Davies from the Turning Category with the
CareerOne Best Performing Competitor Award

The winner of the VETiS Shield is New South Wales. The VETiS Shield is awarded to the best performing state in the WorldSkills Australia National Competition 2008.Congratulations to the New South Wales contingent.

The 2008 National Competition was the perfect backdrop to acknowledge and celebrate the International Competition held at the same venue, 20 years ago. A cocktail party was held on Saturday 12th July at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre providing an opportunity for past Competitors, Judges, Chief Judges, Team Leaders and anyone else involved in the competition to meet again and reminisce on the 1988 Competition. Many thanks to Devin Flor for his assistance and providing video footage from the 1988 event for everyone to enjoy, and also thank you to Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF) for organising the cocktail party.

During the National Competition people from all over the world visited the WorldSkills Australia website. People from countries such as Canada, Peru, Japan, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Germany, Papua New Guinea, UK and USA watched as competition updates and highlights were updated daily. In total people from over 70 countries visited the WSA website to keep up to date with the Nationals news.

Approximately 25,000 unique visitors looked at the website in competition period.

The talented team from SkillsOne TV attended all three days of the WorldSkills Australia National Competition 2008, capturing hours and hours of footage that culminated in 60 individual video stories which can be viewed online via the WoldSkills Australia website.

Thousands of people took part in the WorldSkills Australia Try’aTrade at the National
Competition in Sydney last month. With over 30 Try‘aTrade categories on offer from the Jewellery category where visitors were happy to wait in line for an opportunity to make a pair of earrings to learning to lay a brick at Bricklaying or making sausages at Meat Retailing. Visitors to the National Competition were able to watch competitors battle it out in their category and not miss any of the action as they turned their own skills to trying trade themselves.

The winners of the iPODs are Kaitlin Rocsler aged 12 from Wagga Wagga who is interested in hairdressing and painting and Jordan Fincher aged 15 from Picton High School.

Congratulations to both and thank you to CareerOne for sponsoring the competition prizes.

Australian Institute of Music Open Day

Australian Institute of Music are opening their doors to the public keen to learn more about the programs, on offer. AIM Open Day is designed as a taster of what to expect when one comes to study at the Institute. AIM staff and students will be available in the foyer to answer any of your questions throughout the day.

Open Day is on 23 August 2008, from 11am- 4pm.
AIM is located at 1-51 Foveaux St, Surry Hills, a 50 metre walk from Central Station.

No need to book, just turn up and enjoy the day.
If you would like any further information on the Open Day, please do not hesitate to contact Louise O’Sullivan on 02 9219 5439 or visit AIM website at www.aim.edu.au

In October 2007 there was real enthusiasm and energy from WorldSkills volunteers and staff about taking the first steps towards a more sustainable National competition. Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF) and WorldSkills Australia (WSA) started partnering on an ‘eco skills project’ and over time this project became known as the Green Team.

Across the two major components of the National Competition – event management and the skill competition itself – there were three main aspects to the Green Team project:

• Benchmarking water, waste and energy by cross disciplinary student teams
• Encouraging project designers and category convenors to incorporate sustainability where possible into design, waste practices, materials & tools procurement and judging scales
• Recognising and awarding ‘outstanding leadership in showcasing skills for sustainability – project designer & category convenor’

View the full article on WorldSkills thinking and acting green.

Steve Crompton, Brian Johnson and Stuart Aisbett from the
Vehicle Painting Category winning the Green Award for Outstanding Leadership in
Showcasing Skills for Sustainability - Project Design and Category Convenor.

WorldSkills has lost a dedicated supporter on Saturday 26th July- with the sudden passing of Lynne Butler. Lynne was the mother of four sons including Brent and Kyle. Brent was a gold medallist in MTC in Helsinki in 2005 , and has since been involved with regional and national competitions and was the Chief Judge of Computer Assisted Machining competition at the Sydney Nationals. Kyle won the national gold medal in CAM at the recent nationals, and is now on the shortlist for selection in the AU MTC team for Calgary.

Lynne was a bright and bubbly person, and with her husband Bruce, actively supported both Brent and Kyle in all their WorldSkills competitions. Lynne and Bruce even travelled to Helsinki as members of the AU supporter group to watch Brent compete.

Bruce and Lynne were two very proud parents when Brent was presented with his Helsinki gold medal. At the recent Sydney nationals, both Lynne and Bruce were excited when Kyle was presented with his gold medal. Lynne was saying they would be off the Calgary next year to see Kyle compete.

WorldSkills AU and all from the WorldSkills family offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to Brent and Kyle, Dad Bruce, and brothers Vaughan and Lincoln on the loss of Lynne.

Lynne and Bruce Butler with son Brent after winning MTC Gold in Helsinki

One of the aims of WorldSkills Australia is to provide International Pathways to young Australians who have competed in WorldSkills Australia competitions so that they have the opportunity to expand their horizons and experience new environments using the skills they have. One such pathway is made possible via the Australian Overseas Foundation (AOF) Scholarships.

The AOF is now inviting applications for the 2008 round of scholarships and WorldSkills Australia encourages all past or current competitors who meet the eligibility criteria to apply. Applications are to be received by WSA no later than Monday 11th August.

For more details on the scholarship,
including eligibility criteria and application forms visit the
AOF website on www.aof.org.au

With the conclusion of a most successful WorldSkills Australia 2008 National Competition, we would like to sincerely thank our supporters and sponsors.

The 2008 WorldSkills Australia National Competition would not have been possible without your support as it is only via this tremendous support, that WorldSkills Australia is able to continue to inspire young Australians to achieve skills excellence through our programs such as the 2008 WorldSkills Australia National Competition – A Celebration of the Wonder of Skills.