Opportunities at today’s South Gippsland Jobs Expo
The South Gippsland Shire Jobs Expo runs from 10 am until 2 pm today, Thursday, March 19, at Leongatha Memorial Hall.
WITH around 35 exhibitors at today’s South Gippsland Shire Jobs Expo in Leongatha Memorial Hall, and hopes that around 10 per cent of an estimated 300 visitors will secure employment through the event, it is the ideal place to be if you are unemployed, underemployed or underappreciated.
Darren Beggs of Workforce Australia spoke at this morning’s Jobs Expo Breakfast, saying the organisation supports events that lead to employment, praising South Gippsland Shire Council for embracing the Expo, and being delighted with the central location.
Breakfast attendees, including today’s exhibitors, heard from Mark Lindsay of Marinus Link about preliminary works and expectations of the project getting underway in earnest later this year, and the employment opportunities that will flow from that.
Marinus Link will be an interconnector between the Tasmanian and Victorian energy systems, with plans to install cables under Bass Strait that will come ashore at Sandy Point, then connect to Hazelwood into the existing network.
“We’re about ready to go,” he declared, noting there are just a few more environmental approvals needed in Tasmania.
Activity has already been happening in Sandy Point with the removal of some topsoil and creation of driveways to support upcoming work by providing access to the back of the sand dunes.
“We’re going to be here in the community for three or four years, so small to medium enterprises, local people who want to connect to the project, this is the time that we can start talking,” Mark said, noting there are already local people working for Marinus Link.
Major construction is hoped to get underway in the third quarter of this year.
Mark stressed that within weeks, work packages related to the project will go up on the ‘Industry Capability Network’ site.
Marinus Link will have a table at today’s Jobs Expo and plans to establish a project office on the corner of Peart Street, over the road from Woolworths Leongatha, with hopes that it will open by the end of April.
Mark acknowledged the immense support of the South Gippsland Shire Council.
“They see the opportunities, they understand the development needs to come, but it needs to be responsible and done with the community,” he said.
The South Gippsland Shire Jobs Expo runs from 10 am until 2 pm today, Thursday, March 19, at Leongatha Memorial Hall.
