[Peetwo]

Act now or else -
 
From Avbiz today, apparently the TLISC Aviation Workforce Skills Study was released last Friday (presumably in conjunction with the Miniscule & Industry AICC meeting) and is now available for industry comment up till 16 February 2016:

Aviation workforce study reinforces need to get cracking

 
From TLISC website:

Transport & Logistics Industry Skills Council
&.. from the Aviation Workforce Skills Study - Key Issues Paper:

Off the Yaffa - Denise says enough of the talkfests...

Editor's Insights
04 Feb 2016

This week an aviation workforce skills study paper produced by the Transport & Logistics Industry Skills Council (TLISC) was circulated widely in the aviation industry to canvas feedback on a wide range of issues that address the skill needs – or in some instances the lack of them – in this sector.

While reports like this are necessary to bring attention to the shortcomings and deficiencies as well as the potential in a largely fragmented industry, I can't help but have niggling doubts that this might just end up as another talkfest paper.

We have seen it too many times before. Plans announced with great gusto in August 2014 for a national aerospace meta hub, backed by federal funding, were to to bring Australia's aerospace and aviation manufacturing and research together to propel expansion into international markets and ensure the skills needed were adequately catered for.

But the hub fizzled, partly because of funding cutbacks, but also because industry participants just couldn't or wouldn't make the time to get themselves together as a united platform to drive the project.

And that was after six months of detailed research and feedback on many of the issues the Transport & Logistics Skills Council are now canvassing. They want the right skills base and enough qualified people to make Australia a leading provider, not just in the aviation training sector, but also to be able to attract business in areas such as maintenance, repair and overhaul, a sector that is becoming increasingly thin on the ground  globally as airline growth increases demand for such services.

To this end, the University of New South Wales is also looking to take its two year study, “The Future of Aircraft Maintenance in Australia: Workforce Capability, Aviation Safety and Industry Development" to the next level, ideally constructive action.

 Like the TLISC report, it focuses on labour skills, specifically the MRO sector where it is estimated there will be a 30 per cent global shortfall in numbers by 2025.
 
The report has considerable tertiary, industry and union input and multiple sources of funding, but now some facilitator – the most obviously being the  federal government - needs to to pick up and run with the proposal in it for the creation of a specialist national aerospace/aviation college that will put Australia in the box seat as a leading  provider and exporter of skills in this sector, in the process helping to address the shortfall in aircraft maintenance capacity. Such a college could go further to cover all aviation and aerospace skills.

The university is working closely with Aviation/Aerospace Australia, which is picking up on the research done for the meta hub.

The TLSCS has the advantage of being contracted by the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development to undertake its study so it has the ear of the department's minister, Warren Truss, a man with considerable knowledge of Australia's aviation industry.

If these parties could all put their heads together, share their research and resources, fill in any missing gaps and perhaps even reach out to people such as aviation doyen, David Forsyth, the man behind the Aviation Safety Regulation Review, then there might just be some glimmer of hope that talk and reports could turn into action to make the sector an economic goldmine for the country.

So how about it?

Yes how about it Wazza, you up for it? Hmm...judging by your nano-nap in QT today, it's past time you got off the pot mate..

Warren Truss looks like he fell asleep in parliament

• The Australian
  
• February 4, 2016 7:32PM
  

The eyes don’t have it as Warren Truss rests his during Question Time.

Question Time can be tough going - points of order, Dorothy Dixers and Clive Palmer’s note-shuffling - but did Warren Truss find it just a bit too much today?

The Nationals leader was caught seemingly punching out a few sneaky zeds as Malcolm Turnbull delivered a typically verbose update on the NBN.

Parliament’s television cameras appeared to show Mr Truss struggling to give the Prime Minister his full, eyes-open attention. He may have been merely resting his peepers, or concentrating really, really hard on fibre-to-the node technology.

You be the judge.

WATCH

 
 MTF..P2