Federal Member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon today visited Hunter TAFEs Muswellbrook campus to turn the first sod on the new student accommodation facility.

The project is being jointly funded by the Federal Government, Bengalla Mine, BHP Billiton Mt Arthur Coal and Glencore Mangoola Mine in partnership with Muswellbrook Shire Council.

The Labor Government allocated $2.7 million from Round Two of the Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF) towards the project.

This project will cater for students and apprentices that will enhance educational excellence in the Hunter, increase skilled labour and reduce housing pressure, Mr Fitzgibbon said.

As well as construction jobs, the student accommodation project will remove barriers to local people entering the workforce by raising their skill levels through training and increase the training linkages between vocational training and coal mining in the Hunter region.

This project will build important infrastructure that will serve the Muswellbrook community and local region both now and into the future, he said.