Hastings Deering celebrated the achievements of its apprentices at its annual Apprentice of the Year awards recently in Brisbane, recognising the outstanding skills and dedication of the next generation of tradespeople.
Now in its 48th year, the event highlights Hastings Deering’s ongoing commitment to training and developing skilled tradespeople to support the resource and construction industries.
CEO and Managing Director Mark Scott said investing in the workforce of the future has never been more important.
“We remain committed to strengthening skills development – particularly in trade training, apprenticeships and STEM disciplines – and to evolving our trade and technical training to meet the future of work”, he said.
A four-day competition, held at Hastings Deering’s learning centre in Brisbane, tested the nine finalists on skills ranging from electronic fault finding to public speaking.
The 2025 finalists were Jamie Kirkwood (Alice Springs), Alex Hunt (Brisbane), Isaac Kiely (Darwin), Lachlan O’Grady (Rockhampton), Hayden Smith (Toowoomba), Ella Davis (Mackay), and Saiam Sai (Papua New Guinea).
As the winner of the 2025 Top Apprentice Award, Alex Hunt will represent Hastings Deering at Caterpillar’s ‘Dealer Top Apprentice’ competition in Melbourne next March. Alex will compete against top apprentices from across Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.
“I really enjoyed meeting contestants from other branches in Brisbane and seeing their skills and strengths. It was a tight competition with some super tricky diagnostic faults so it was an exciting event. I’m looking forward to representing Hastings Deering in Melbourne,” Alex said.
“This year, the company boasts almost 200 apprentices across its dealerships and in 2026, it will welcome 31 new apprentices to join our ranks, showing our continued commitment to creating new jobs in our resources and construction sectors.”
Hastings Deering also recognised its learning and capability team for their world-class training programs, acknowledged through multiple Queensland and Northern Territory State Training Awards.
“For almost five decades, we’ve trained skilled tradespeople, giving us the confidence to keep building new skills and capabilities through our technical trade programs, as well as our leadership and graduate pathways. Developing top talent for the resources and construction sectors remains a clear priority for us into 2026,” Mark said.