- Brisbane City Council arborist Harry Roberts has been named the state’s best apprentice and the Sunshine Coast’s former Olympian and business whiz Tessa Wallace the best trainee at the 2024 Queensland Training Awards.
- Cairns grandmother Leah Garling won the Equity Student of the Year award for her work with Centacare FNQ while Rebecca Hoffensetz from the Ville Resort and Casino (Townsville) is the VET Teacher or Trainer of the Year.
- They are among 14 state winners, who hail from Weipa to Currumbin, announced at the gala event held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre over the weekend.
Each year, the Queensland Training Awards recognise outstanding achievements in vocational education and training (VET) statewide – celebrating apprentices, trainees, vocational students, teachers, and trainers, as well as training providers and employers.
This year’s award winners have been nothing short of exceptional. Hailing from all across Queensland the diverse group of finalists are a testament to the impact good training and skills development can have.
Passionate environmentalist Harry Roberts from Yatala, has been named the Harry Hauenschild Apprentice of the Year at the 2024 Queensland Training Awards after he excelled in his Certificate III in Arboriculture studies and work with Brisbane City Council.
The Bob Marshman Trainee of the Year award has gone to former Olympic swimmer Tessa Wallace, who after striving for excellence in the pool brings that drive to her job with World Wide Boat Brokers on the Sunshine Coast, completing her Certificate III in Business with the aim of supporting the business to grow.
North and Far North Queensland was well represented with Weipa’s Rhonda Woolla awarded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year, Cairns’ Leah Garling taking out Equity Student of the Year and Townsville’s Rebecca Hoffensetz named VET Teacher or Trainer of the Year.
TAFE Queensland is the Large Training Provider of the Year and On the Job Training, based in Stapylton, is the Small Training Provider of the Year, while Centacare FNQ’s Upcyclinc project is the Community Training Initiative of the Year.
Queensland’s selected winners will now represent the maroon state at the Australian Training Awards in Canberra on 8 December.
As stated by the Minister for Training and Skills Development Lance McCallum:
“The Queensland Training Awards provide an ideal platform to highlight the top performers in training and demonstrate the transformative power of skills.
“The Miles Labor Government is backing more locals like them by funding one million training places for Queenslanders, easing cost-of-living pressures for those who want to train, upskill, reskill, and pursue careers in the state’s priority industries.
“This strategy is not just real cost of living relief now, but a chance at a better life, with better pay and a better job, helping grow our economy right across the state.
“Labor’s Free TAFE has changed lives–people who were facing homelessness, mothers returning to work, and young people who haven’t finished high school–have completed free TAFE courses and come out with good jobs.
“There’s no clearer difference between Labor and the LNP who will jack up course fees and make young Queenslanders pay for their apprenticeships–they’ll have to, because they don’t back the coal royalties that pay for it.”
As stated by Equity Student of the Year, Leah Garling:
“I have little ones, I have three grandchildren that I am solely responsible for. So, you know, I want to see them, to show them that no what age your are, you can still achieve something with your life, and be proud of that.
“I’d just like to thank the community in general, and hopefully they see that I can achieve something. And being an Indigenous person and a female at that and at a particular age in life … the world’s your oyster.
“Because of that traineeship that they brought back in for people like myself, where we can go our, learn the skills that we need to progress in life and then employment afterwards. So I’m very grateful that I was in the right place at the right time and then Centacare actually kind of offered me a job. And so now that I work in the Manoora Neighbourhood Community Centre I love it, it’s a very fulfilling job that I do.”
As stated by Queensland VET Teacher or Trainer of the Year Rebecca Hoffensetz:
“I have dreamed of coming to this level and I never knew that I would get through to the next one. So just super excited very pumped.
“This means so much to my career. This means the passion and the dedication, those long hours that you do to make sure your students are getting through, it’s all worth it. I was already a winner from all the love and support that we get from not just our employees, our students, our friends, but it means the world, it is very humbling.
“There are so many people I’d like to thank. My husband’s my rock and he’s been there from day one, but my employer The Ville Resort-Casino, they’ve given me an opportunity to have a really unique role with them.
“They’ve backed me all the way from coming from the casino world into that trainer and assessor realm, teaching our staff and CTA Training Specialists for really believing in me and really empowering me to go through and do this with our students and our team members.”
Explainer/fast fact and or further information:
The state winners were announced at the Queensland Training Awards State Final presentation dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Brisbane on Saturday 7 September 2024.
The 14 winners were selected from almost 750 nominations received across the state.
Winners of individual categories will head to Canberra in December to represent Queensland at the 2024 Australian Training Awards.
The Australian Training Awards conducts a shortlisting process to select three finalists from the state winners in its business and training provider categories.
Nominations for the 2025 Queensland Training Awards will open after the Australian Training Awards are held in Canberra in December, but anyone interested can submit an expression of interest now, to ensure they are notified when the window opens. Visit
To learn more about the Queensland Training Awards visit
Full list of statewide winners:
Individual award categories
Harry Hauenschild Apprentice of the Year – Harry Roberts, Certificate III in Arboriculture, Brisbane
Bob Marshman Trainee of the Year – Tessa Wallace, Certificate III in Business, Sunshine Coast
Vocational Student of the Year – Atong Koot, Certificate III in Individual Support, Annerley
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year – Rhonda Woolla, Certificate IV in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Response, Weipa
School-based Apprentice or Trainee of the Year – Chelsea Bostock, Certificate III in Hairdressing, Mackay
Equity Student of the Year – Leah Garling, Certificate I in Workplace Skills, Cairns
VET Teacher or Trainer of the Year – Rebecca Hoffensetz, The Ville Resort-Casino, Townsville
Organisation award categories
Community Training Initiative of the Year – Centacare FNQ’s UpCyclinc project, Cairns
Large Employer of the Year – Riviera Australia, Coomera
Medium Employer of the Year – Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
Small Employer of the Year – Gunggandji-Mandingalbay Yidinji Peoples Prescribed Body Corporate Aboriginal Corporation, Yarrabah
Large Training Provider of the Year – TAFE Queensland
Small Training Provider of the Year – On the Job Training, Stapylton
Premier’s Industry Collaboration Award – Palm Island Digital Service Centre
