Talented TAFE SA students from across the state are heading to Queensland this month to test their skills against the country’s best at the WorldSkills National Championships.
TAFE SA has 31 competitors in the state team of 37 who won gold, silver or bronze medals in the 2024 WorldSkills Regional Competitions. Three TAFE SA lecturers will also be attending as team leaders.
Often referred to as the ‘Skills Olympics’, the WorldSkills 2025 National Championships will be held in Brisbane from June 12-14, with competitions across more than 60 skill and trade areas including carpentry, landscape construction, plumbing, welding, cookery, retail butchery and beauty therapy.
Among the TAFE SA contingent are two Mount Gambier-based tradies, Jay Lines and Jet Mules, who are excited about competing among the “best of the best” and are both eager to see how their skills compare.
Plumber Jay Lines (pictured below) says on a day-to-day basis he focuses on doing his best at work and doesn’t think about how he compares with others.
“I’m excited to see how everyone performs, where they stand and where I slot into the field,” he says.
Jay, an apprentice at Group Training Employment (GTE) Mount Gambier working for Trent Milich Plumbing, says he enjoys the problem solving that comes with his job, working on issues where the solution isn’t obvious.
He was encouraged to enter the regional competition after attending a WorldSkills Forum and then discovered the event would be held in Adelaide, but says he was pleased to score a silver medal after travelling to compete.
Jay says he was feeling relaxed about the national championship until about a month ago when things started to “get a bit more serious” and he’s been balancing his work with practice at TAFE SA’s Mount Gambier Campus.
Jet Mules, a metal fabricator, won a gold medal in the hotly contest welding category of the regional competition to earn his place in the state team.
He says the regional competition was a “daunting but good experience” and in the lead up to the national event he’s been well supported by his workmates and employer at DMK Engineering.
“Work has been setting me up and helping me practice and a couple of the blokes I work with have been to WorldSkills as competitors in the past, so they’ve been giving me some advice,” Jet says.
DMK Engineering specialises in pipework, structural and food-grade engineering and Jet says the diverse range of projects has helped his skill development.
“Every workshop is different, and our workshop does things all over Australia and I think that’s really helped me with the competition,” he says.
Jet says his dad, who is also a metal fabricator, will join him in Brisbane to watch the competition and they’re looking forward to experiencing all that WorldSkills offers.
“I didn’t realise how big it is, and I’ve heard a lot of good things, so I’m keen to see the different trades and the skill level of the competitors,” he says.
The top performers at WorldSkills Australia will have the opportunity to be nominated for the international team, the Skillaroos, to compete at an international level in Shanghai, China, in 2026, with up to 85 other countries.