BUSINESS NEWS
Cultivating the Next Gen By Belinda Tardini and David Robin Boughen
DNA Training are leading the charge to promote our industry to the next generation of recruits.
And of course, it wasn’t just the environmental events that shook the nation, the COVID-19 pandemic added another layer of challenge and uncertainty. During this time, educating the next generation of green space workers ground to a halt due to restrictions imposed on the education sector, leaving a large deficit in an industry already experiencing a skills shortage. The extremes in climatic events have highlighted a need for the next generation of trained green space professionals to help, not only recover from these devastations, but to innovate and collaborate new ideas to manage future events. Action needs to be taken to stabalise the damage caused by recent environmental and health disasters and boost the already significant staff shortage to assist in the recovery. Joshua Gregory, the Senior Supervisor at Summit Open Space Services, was tasked with making King Like National Park safe again following the ‘Black Saturday’ fires that caused devastation to the park and the community.
How can we encourage the next generation of green space workers? The DNA Training Solutions team have been working closely with Lynda Green, Training Package Content Officer for the Australian Apprenticeship and Traineeship Pathways (AATP), to uncover why the next generation are often overlooking the rewarding work on offer in the green space industry. The new government School Based Apprenticeship and Traineeship initiative has been focused on guiding the next generation in choosing their career pathways. Industry Coordinators for the Victorian South Eastern District at HEADSTART, Kellie-Ann Darlington and Haritini Nikolaou, support the action of filling the gap in our Green Space Industry, by working closely with DNA Training Solutions to build the awareness of the opportunity to undertake a Traineeship in Conservation and Land Management, Arboriculture and Horticulture. “We understand the need for building the workforce in Horticulture and Arboriculture, however the students do not know that this career pathway is an option or what they do,” said Haritini. Photo: Alicia Bonaffini, DNA Training Solutions
Australians are a resilient bunch, in 2019-20, we endured devastating droughts, ravaging bushfires, severe flooding and storms.
Joshua said, “it was strange working at King Lake seeing the damage and how the locals responded to the removal of the damaged trees that had become a hazard. They now support arborists to visit regularly, maintaining the National Park and surrounding areas, removing potential fire hazards or vegetation that could fuel possible threats in the future, and helping to re-establish the natural habitats for our wildlife.” Adelina Carnevale, owner of DNA Recruitment, agrees that there is a high need for new entrants in the industry, “there is a huge need for arborists in Victoria and for more women in the industry. We are inundated with employers chasing us for qualified people in arboriculture and horticulture to fill the skills shortage”. The Australian Government has also recognised that there is a significant skills shortage in arboriculture, horticulture, agriculture, retail nursery and landscaping. The question I dare to ask is if we struggle to attract new entrants into the industry what will happen to our beautiful land.
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GROUNDSWELL JANUARY 2021
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