Hospitality workers on the Central Coast are set to benefit from an extension of free refresher courses into next year, announced last week by the State Government in a bid to address staff shortages.
Minister for Hospitality and Racing, Kevin Anderson, said hospitality venues are doing their best to encourage workers to the sector, but are facing major staff shortages with many skilled hospitality staff leaving the industry during the peak of the COVID pandemic.
“Many who left the sector have seen their mandatory certifications lapse,” he said.
“We want to make it easy for those people to quickly and freely renew those certifications and remove any barriers that are preventing them from re-entering the hospitality sector.
“It’s not just bar and wait staff who require a Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) certificate – others who work or volunteer where alcohol is sold also need it, including security, crowd control and promotional staff.
“The same goes for the Responsible Conduct of Gambling certificate (RCG) – if you work around poker machines you need to have specific training to identify and minimise gambling harm.”
Australian Hotels Association NSW Director of Liquor and Policing John Green said pubs right across NSW are still struggling with staff shortages so the initiative is greatly appreciated.
“Reducing red tape makes it easier for those who worked in the industry to come back and pick up a few shifts at their local – we would especially encourage older workers with their years of experience to step back behind the bar,” he said.
Anyone whose certification expired from February, 2020, can renew their RSA, or RSA and RCG together, for free, until February, 2023, without having to retrain in full.
Since February this year more than 16,000 people have completed free RSA and RCG refresher courses through Liquor & Gaming NSW.
Source:
Media release, Jun 27
NSW Government