New TasTAFE regional role is boosting industry and regional engagement in the state’s north

Following the success of Regional Engagement Officer roles in Tasmania’s south and north-west regions, TasTAFE has appointed a new Regional and Industry Engagement Manager in the north of the state.

David Dunn started in the role in late April, based at Alanvale Campus in Launceston – but his territory covers all of Tasmania’s north and north-east, from Oatlands to Deloraine to Swansea and Flinders Island. He also has some statewide responsibilities in specific industry areas, including tourism and hospitality, primary industries and health.

For David, his return to Alanvale is a happy one: the TasTAFE campus here was once his senior school college.

David grew up on a farm in Blessington, 40km east of Launceston. After Year 12 he progressed through administrative and customer service roles in banking (including a 2-year stint on Flinders Island), group training and apprenticeship centres, and with Skills Tasmania. He started with TasTAFE in 2018 as Education Manager, Tourism and Hospitality, based in Launceston.

As a volunteer, David has clocked-up 33 years of involvement with Rural Youth Tasmania; 16 years as a committee member, chairman and mentor at Agfest; and 18 years with Festivale, including the past 6 years as committee chairman.

David also sat on the board of Launceston’s successful bid to become a UNESCO ‘City of Gastronomy’ in 2021 – a position he still holds. All of these achievements propelled him to receiving the ‘Launceston Citizen of the Year Award' in 2025.

Clearly, David’s connections with northern Tasmania run deep.

He now brings this wealth of experience to TasTAFE’s Industry Engagement team, working closely with stakeholders to identify how TasTAFE can increase training access and meet specific industry requirements.

“The opportunity to come across to the Industry Engagement team means that I'll have more time to spend with industry, talking with peak bodies and understanding their training needs,” David said.

“We might not always be able to meet these needs 100%, but having those conversations allows us to work with our delivery teams and say, ‘OK, this is what's needed’ – then come back to industry and either say, ‘Yes, we can do it,’ or propose an alternative. Sometimes if we can just tweak a product, we can get it across the line for them.”

TasTAFE’s Senior Manager Industry Engagement, Matt Dance said that having David engaging with industry in the north now gives TasTAFE statewide coverage.

“Our team’s focus is working with industry and our communities to understand demand and facilitate training delivery to meet their needs,” Matt said.

“With David now in the Regional and Industry Engagement Manager role based in the north, we have the final piece of the statewide jigsaw puzzle in place. We can now hear directly from community and employers in the north and north-east about what they need from us, boosting access and participation in TasTAFE training in these regional areas.

“David will also play an important role in leading strategic industry engagement activities across a number of our delivery teams – including primary industries, tourism and hospitality, and health specialties.”

In his first few weeks, David has been spending a lot of time on the road – something he’s looking forward to in the role.

“I've been all around the north and north-east, having conversations with employers, training consultants, and some of the Business Enterprise Centres and peak bodies – finding out what's happening in local areas like St Helens and Scottsdale,” David said.

“I much rather drive and have these meetings face-to-face – I think you build better relationships that way. And if we want to build stronger connections in some of these regional and rural areas, we’ve just got to get out there and tread the boards, as they say!”

David can be contacted via the TasTAFE Industry Engagement team: industryengagement@tafe.tas.edu.au.