ON THE RADAR Landmark announcement
Centralised campus for intensive education Minister praises leading role in emergency services training integration.
T
he new world class Marine Rescue NSW Training Academy will deliver professional, intensive vocational education to Australia’s largest volunteer marine rescue cohort. Commissioner Stacey Tannos said MRNSW had reached a critical point in its development, requiring enhanced training facilities to keep pace with the needs of its 3,000plus volunteers and the increasing demand for its services from the growing NSW boating community. “This centralised facility will provide consistent training across our curriculum, from first aid through to the most advanced qualifications,” he said. “It can take more than a year to gain some of these qualifications, depending on how much time members can get on the boat or the radio, the availability of trainers and their unit’s training and operational workload. “Now, members will be able to
undertake core course preparation at their units and then complete their training and assessment at the Academy in a streamlined block of learning that can be completed in one to two weeks, depending on the subject.” The self-contained campus is expected to cater for up to 100 trainees a week from across the organisation. Concept plans are for a showcase building to be developed to house accommodation and meal facilities and a large conference room. Two historic timber cottages will be restored as classrooms equipped with simulators and other high-tech learning tools. The swimming pool beside Port Hacking, used for marine research for more than a century, will be refurbished and fitted with jets to create a realistic sea survival training environment with waves and currents. Commissioner Tannos said
Commissioner Stacey Tannos, Emergency Services Minister David Elliott and MRNSW Chair Jim Glissan on the Training Academy site.
helping more members gain their qualifications more quickly would boost volunteer engagement and retention, in turn helping secure the service’s sustainability and making boating safer on NSW waterways. The Training Academy also will be available to other emergency services who use vessels in their response operations, such as the State Emergency Service and Rural
Fire Service, and volunteer marine rescue agencies from other states. Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said MRNSW had taken a leadership role in integrating its training with other emergency services. Detailed design work and consultation will be carried out before construction of the main building starts next financial year.
New Stores mark start of site restoration Relocated dispatch centre will be more convenient, cost-effective.
T
he MRNSW Stores are being relocated to State Headquarters in the first stage of the restoration of the Cronulla site. A dilapidated old records building filled with empty and rusting compactus files has been gutted and transformed into a spacious new store and dispatch centre. The existing Stores will be relocated from leased premises in Chatswood. Chief Financial Officer Todd Andrews said it would be more costeffective, efficient and convenient to have the stores co-located with the Headquarters. “It will save double-handling and free up valuable space in the main office building that has been used
to store a lot of training resources and equipment and other materials,” he said. “This renovation was the obvious starting point for the development of the Academy and the associated facilities. The building was not heritage-listed, making the project relatively quick and simple to complete.” Commissioner Stacey Tannos thanked Stores Manager Graham Foy, who has decided not to make the daily commute from Sydney’s upper North Shore to Cronulla. “Graham has been with MRNSW since its earliest days. His assistance to our staff and units has been of great value to us all and we will miss his knowlege and his willingness to help,” he said.
Changing of the guard ... newly-appointed Stores Manager Daniel Gatt meets Graham Foy to learn the ropes of MRNSW dispatch.
The new Stores Manager is Daniel Gatt (see story Page 16). The building work was completed during the Headquarters pandemic shutdown. The brick and iron building had been sitting idle since the Department of Primary
Industries Fisheries Research Centre vacated the site. The building has been redeveloped with polished concrete floors and new offices, shelving and lighting. The exterior has been re-clad and a new receipt and dispatch point created. SOUNDINGS | MARINE RESCUE NSW
5
