INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
Taking on the skills challenge In his exclusive column, Australasian Railway Association Chief Executive Danny Broad discusses the next steps to respond to the national rail skills crisis, and unveils appointees to the ARA’s first Youth Leaders Advisory Board.
I
N THE PREVIOUS ISSUE OF RAIL EXPRESS I reported on the publication of the report Skills Crisis: A Call to Action which describes the skilled labour crisis facing rail unless urgent intervention is undertaken to address market failure. The BIS Oxford Economics (BOE) Report recommends the establishment of a heavy hitting taskforce to provide the mechanism for cohesion between jurisdictions, industry and the education sector to drive the necessary ‘fit-for-purpose’ skills and training reforms, working cooperatively with rail industry companies. A clear action plan is laid out in the BOE Report which is available on the ARA website. It will be no easy task, but the formation of such a taskforce is urgently required. The intention of the Australian government is that rail industry skills and capability issues will be considered through the National Rail Plan (NRP). The Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities (DIRDC) is currently working with key rail stakeholders to develop the NRP to be provided to the Transport and Infrastructure Senior Officials Committee (TISOC) for endorsement in March 2019. DIRDC plans to facilitate the skills and capability issues through engagement with other Australian Government agencies responsible for these matters including the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and the Department of Education and Training. This alone, or indeed the Government’s VET review will not solve the skills and training issues in rail in a timely manner. As highlighted in the recommendations in the BOE Report, separate and urgent remedies are required for rail. Unfortunately, rail reform does not fit into the province of one sovereign government, as is the case in New Zealand or the UK. Rather VET responsibilities fall to eight State and Territory Governments to manage. In addition, reforms required in rail training extend beyond VET to broader tertiary training needs, where Universities become Commonwealth responsibility. Opposition Shadow Minister the Hon Anthony Albanese MP has committed to establish a Strategic Rail Industry Workforce Development Forum, “... tasked with developing strategic responses to the skills issues facing the industry and building productive working relationships across the industry and with
58
ISSUE 1 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS
TAFE and other training providers. The resulting skills development strategy will not only aim to boost the national training effort, but also to ensure that the training is fit for purpose.”
Young Leaders Advisory Board (Y-LAB)
Attendees at our AusRail 2018 Conference in Canberra last November would recall some of the terrific presentations made by many of our younger industry professionals. As I announced at our Gala Dinner, the ARA has prioritised engaging the younger demographic in our industry and reaching out to promote rail as an exciting place to work. To harness the ideas of young talent in our industry we have appointed 8 talented under-35 year old rail professionals to our inaugural Young Leaders Advisory Board (Y-LAB). The Y-LAB will report into the ARA Board, providing a younger perspective on Board priorities as well as tabling new ideas and opportunities for the rail industry. This is an exciting new initiative to formally engage the future leaders of our industry. Our industry is changing fast, with over $100 Billion forecast investment in new projects over the next 10 years, and with new technologies being introduced, we need to engage the future leaders of our industry in key decisions. We are excited to do this through the formation of Y-LAB. The eight appointed individuals represent the diversity of roles and segments of the rail sector, bringing young engineers, planners, compliance and general managers from rail operators, manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and consultants to the table. There was extensive interest for this initiative from throughout the industry, with almost 50 applications from across Australia and New Zealand through expressions of interest applications. In recognition of the excellent quality of these applications we have appointed eight members of the Y-LAB and 4 Reserve Y-LAB members. Y-LAB begins work at its first meeting in midMarch, where it will consider two key priorities on the ARA Board agenda; skilled labour shortages over the next 10 years and the promotion and branding of our industry.
ARA Chief Executive Officer Danny Broad.
www.railexpress.com.au
