MTA NSW enter the World Skills Competition

Automotive talents set to shine as MTA NSW apprentices take centre stage at WorldSkills regional competition

The top automotive apprentices will put their skills to the test for a shot at the national championships in Melbourne, 2023.

More than 15 automotive apprentices will compete against one another in the inaugural WorldSkills Regional Championships later this month, for their shot at a spot in the national competition.

On Monday, November 28th the event at Axalta training centre in Marsden Park will see entrants battle against one another in a series of paint and panel style challenges, designed to put their skills to the test across disciplines ranging from spray painting to buffing and even design layout.

“The WorldSkills competition provides a key opportunity for recognising emerging talent in our industry,” said CEO MTA NSW, Stavros Yallouridis.

“Not only is WorldSkills a chance to demonstrate the high quality of our training, it’s also an opportunity for our organisation to give back and invest in the future careers of our talented trainees,” he said.

20 year old spray painter Neha Singh was selected from a pool of more than 250 hopefuls, to take part in the regional competition.

“I’m massively excited and so blessed to have this opportunity, especially as a first year - because not that many first years get this opportunity - so I feel very grateful to have been selected and to have people recognise my potential,” said Ms Singh.

As one of only two females competing in the regional event, Neha said she was even more encouraged to do well and hoped it would encourage more women to join the industry.

She currently runs a TikTok page with almost 120 thousand followers and said she ‘gets lots of questions from both men and women’ about how she got into painting, and regularly posts how-to videos about resprays while she’s at work.

“I don’t want to generalise, but some people think that females might not do as well, so it’s good to see other women in the industry, and to be able to prove some of those people wrong,” she said. 

“I always hear that women have a better eye for colour matching and greater attention to details, which is a very big part of this trade,” she said.

MTA NSW’s GM, RTO Ian Price hoped the event would also encourage soon-to-be-school leavers to consider a career in the automotive sector, which is currently experiencing a drastic skills shortage.

“It’s so important for us to promote and raise the profile of the automotive sector; especially right now amid the sweeping transformation of our industry, as electric vehicles begin to take centre stage and new skillsets are required to service them” he said.

“In fact, the mechanics of the future will no longer be thought of as having grease on their hands - instead they’ll be known as vehicle ‘technicians’ and will have far more technical skillsets than what has previously been required to work on petrol vehicles,” he continued.

The WorldSkills regional competition is held every two years, featuring more than 500 events across 34 regions of Australia. Competitions test the skills and knowledge of 4000+ apprentices, trainees and students, who each have the chance to win gold, silver and bronze medals.

Successful entrants will go on to be selected for the National championships to be held in at the Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre in September 2023, with further successful entrants from the National event to be invited to join the ‘Skills Squad’ offering the chance to travel internationally and compete on a global scale.

In order to be eligible to enter the regional competition, entrants must either be undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship, undertaking studies towards a qualification at an RTO/TAFE or University or have completed a relevant qualification at an RTO/TAFE or University.