That was the message from Federal Employment Participation Minister Brendan O'Connor to a conference of group training providers held in Ballarat yesterday.

About 40 group training leaders from across Victoria attended the conference at Craig's Hotel

"To ensure skills training is targeting the greatest areas of shortages, Australia's system need to undergo a fundamental shift," Mr O'Connor said.

"From a system driven by the needs of providers, (it must become) one that responds to the needs of employers industry and the economy."

Mr O'Connor said despite 17 years of economic growth, including a modern day gold rush in the form of the mining boom, the shortage of skills in the national workforce had been apparent for more than a decade.

From 18 occupations classified as being in demand a decade ago, 95 job types were now in the same category.

He said the Federal Government had committed to providing an additional 450,000 training places nationally over four years.

The first round of 20,000 were announced by Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard last week.

The government had also created the Skills Australia body to address the crisis.

WIthin Skills Australia will be industry skills councils.

"Those councils will be informing the government what employers need in each of the regions."

He said this more integrated approach would ensure the training system responded to the needs of the economy more effectively.