[Peetwo]

On vacuous White Paper promises and divisive industry politics?? - 

Via Oz Flying:

Industry Advocates to meet with Minister ahead of Jobs Summit

11 August 2022




Industry advocates have been invited to Canberra on Tuesday 23 August to discuss the skills crisis in aviation with Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Catherine King.

The round-table meeting has been planned ahead of the Federal Government's Jobs and Skills Summit scheduled for 1-2 September.

In inviting advocates, King said the round table would help the government's aviation program.

"In addition to informing preparations for the Jobs and Skills Summit, it is anticipated that the themes and outcomes from the round table will also help inform the Government’s work on the Aviation White Paper, which will set the scene for the next generation of growth and development across the aviation sector," she said. 

Among the people invited to Canberra is Maddy Johnson, chair of the Australian Flight Training Industry Association (AFTIA).
"AFTIA is very supportive and very excited to be invited to the aviation round table with regard to skills and training for our sector," she told Australian Flying.

"We very much look forward to having positive and constructive discussions for outcomes that can be done quickly and will benefit all sectors of the aviation industry from foundation training all the way up as a collaborative process.

"Getting everyone together in the round table format should enable us all to work out where the commonality and differences lie, and what needs to be individually discussed."

During the meeting on Monday, industry representatives are expected to raise issues of a lack of engineers, trained pilots and flying instructors and well as obstructions to training pipelines.

RAAus Chair Michael Monck and CEO Matt Bouttell met with King last Tuesday, and will not be attending the round table on the 23 August due to board meetings scheduled in Adelaide that week. Instead, Jeff Boyd, chair of The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) will represent the interests of RAAus.

"During the meeting on Tuesday Minister King shared with RAAus the determination of the new Government to focus on addressing skills shortages within the aviation sector," said Bouttell in a communique to members.

"The Minister acknowledged that RAAus plays a significant role within the broader industry and our participation was sought in the Jobs and Skills Summit taking place in September.

"RAAus shared with the Minister some examples around how we can address some of the skilled personnel bottle necks including recognition of RAAus instructor hours within the CASA instructor system, along with leveraging further our CASR Part 149 certificate to simplify and streamline administration for private and recreational aviators."

Plus: (from the guy who helped facilitate the introduction of Part 61 and 141/142 -  )

RAAA digs in over Importing Aviation Engineers

12 August 2022



Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) CEO Steve Campbell today reiterated his call for aviation engineers to be put on a priority skills list after Minister for Immigration Andrew Giles skirted the matter.

Campbell wrote to Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Catherine King in June this calling calling for aviation engineers to be placed on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) because visa processing times were too long. King forwarded the concerns to Minister Giles to respond.

Giles wrote back to King in late July saying the Department of Immigration was working to resolve the visa processing times, but made no mention of the request to place aviation engineers on the PMSOL.

"The PMSOL was introduced as a temporary measure to identify occupations considered to be critical for the COVID-19 response and recovery of the Australian economy," Giles said in his reply to King. "I am currently reviewing these priorities and PMSOL to ensure they support improved visa processing times.

"Work underway to reduce visa processing times should make an immediate difference to employers in the aviation sector."
The response was not exactly what the RAAA was looking for as it fails to address adding engineers to the PMSOL, which has lead to Campbell reinforcing the RAAA's position.

“The RAAA welcomes the Immigration minister’s comments about boosting visa processing capacity to ensure that processing times are reduced," Campbell told Australian Flying.

"It is our contention, though, that aviation engineers are at such critical shortages, especially in regional areas, that they must be included on the PMSOL.

“Our members in regional areas are considering winding back operations which are essential to remote communities due to the lack of engineering staff.

"The RAAA implores the Minister to include these jobs on the PMSOL as soon as possible to assist in bringing these experienced workers to Australia under the skills shortages visa system."

Even so, Campbell acknowledges that importing engineers is only a temporary measure and that a long-term solution lies in training home-grown engineers in Australia.

“The RAAA recognises that this is a short-term fix and are also working with CASA and the government on streamlining engineering training to have clearer career pathways for young engineers, which we believe will assist in attracting more people to the industry.”

MTF...P2