Newsletter Number 55 - April 2008

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NEW DISABILITY 1800 HOTLINE

The NT Department of Health & Community Services opened a new telephone hotline on the 31st of March. The Hotline is a '1800' information service providing general information on disability issues and specific information on the Disability Services available throughout the Territory. Callers will be referred if necessary to an appropriate contact within the Department's Aged & Disability Services. The hotline will service the following areas:

• Darwin - Urban & Remote
• Top End Remote
• East Arnhem
• Katherine
• Tennant Creek
• Barkly
• Alice Springs - Urban & Remote
• Relevent tri-state areas

The hotline will be answered with the following greeting: "Office of Disability Services and Liaison". It is open for calls from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8.00am and 4.30pm and is managed by the Alice Springs Office of Disability Services and Liaison at Eurilpa House.

The Hotline number is 1800 139 656.

SUGGESTIONS?

Are there any training sessions or forums that your organisation may find useful? HSTAC may be able to assist!

We'd love to hear from you. Please click on the link below to open an Expression of Interest form and then either email it to us at: projects@hstac.com.au, or fax it to us on: (08) 8981 9822.

Open Form>>

NEWLY RELEASED ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN - COMMUNITY SERVICES & HEALTH INDUSTRY SKILLS COUNCIL

The Community Services & Health Industry Skills Council has just released an Environmental Scan as part of the new Development and Endorsement process for Training Packages. The Scan contains data and analysis of the latest intelligence compiled by the Industry Skills Council. It identifies both current and developing industry skill demand and supply factors and requirements for health and community services workforce development.

The Environmental Scan contains information on the following:

• Industry Skills Council activities
• The 3-year Training Packages Continuous Improvement Plan
• Advice to the National Quality Council
• Up-to-date industry information for Skills Australia (which will influence the Community Services & Health industries' share of the allocation of 450,000 new training places over the next 4 years).

Sources used by the Skills Council for information on workforce development priorities in the Scan include:

• CHC02 Review Discussion Paper and Scoping Report
• Research commissioned from the University of Sydney Workplace Research Centre
• Information on the implementation of CHC02 & HLT07
• Industry consultation (including the February 2008 industry forums held with relevent stakeholders).

The Skills Council are continuing to develop the Environmental Scan, and the Training Packages Continuous Improvement Plan is also ongoing, with the following developments in the pipeline:

• a revised stakeholder list
• priorities for inclusion in the Continuous Improvement Plan
• other activities which will lead to a revised draft Scan - this will conincide with the Community Services & Health Industry Skills Council Conference in Adelaide in October of this year.

For further information about the Scan, or to contact the Research & Policy team, visit the following link on the ISC website: Read More>>

THE HUM @ HSTAC

Local Government Representatives Needed

The Executive Committee of the Human Services Training and Advisory Council will meet this coming Friday, the 18th of April, at the HSTAC Offices. The Council is still looking for members to represent the Local Government sector. If you work in this area and would be interested in contributing to HSTAC's work, please contact us - we would love to hear from you!

DIGITAL / AUDIO TRAINING

Brown's Mart Community Arts will be conducting Digital Audio workshops at the Malak Telecentro from the 28th of May to the 18th of June. The sessions will be held once a week over 4 weeks, from 3.00-7.00pm on the following dates:

• Wednesday 28th of May
• Wednesday 4th of June
• Wednesday 11th of June
• Wednesday 18th of June

The workshops will cover digital audio production, podcasting, and Internet radio. Sessions are free of charge. Please contact Bong Ramilo on (08) 8981 5522 for futher information.

CERTIFICATE II IN COMMUNITY SERVICES WORK

Aspire Training has released new resources for the Certificate II in Community Services Work. There are 11 new workbooks with a focus on language and literacy and each concentrates on one unit of competency from the CHC02 Community Services Training Package. Read More>>

SKILLS FOR BOARD & COUNCIL MEMBERS - WORKSHOP

HSTAC will hold a 2-day workshop on Thursday 26th & Friday 27th of June in Darwin. The workshop is designed for board and council members, as well as Managers and CEO's. For further information, please click here: Read More>>

To register your interest in the workshop, please call us on (08) 8981 2550, or you can email us at: admin@hstac.com.au.

A newly compiled report on Employment Opportunities in the Human Services Industries for July-December 2007 is now available for viewing on our website.

The report contains data collected from employment advertisements and is a useful source for statistics and trends in our industries and within specific occupations. Just click on the link below to view the report (Microsoft Word doc) Read More>>