Future Cairns: Pacific migration, women needed to plug Cairns’ skill shortages
It will take stronger educational ties to the Pacific as well as more women entering traditionally-male dominated industries to meet Cairns’ skill shortages, a local education pioneer says.
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It will take stronger educational ties to the Pacific as well as more women entering traditionally-male dominated industries to meet Cairns’ skill shortages, a local education pioneer says.
It comes as an ambitious new Jobs Queensland plan maps out a vision to attract an extra 1400 workers to the aviation and maritime industries in the Far North within the next two years.
Joann Pyne, the former TAFE Queensland North general manager who brings decades of experience to the sector, said the Cairns economy cannot grow and strengthen its position as the Gateway to the Pacific without a significant increase in skilled workers.
“At the moment, for most businesses that is a big challenge for them, getting skilled workers to be able to fill vacancies,” she said.
“And one of the challenges for anybody, of course, is housing – finding accommodation.
“There’s no better place to learn and earn than in North Queensland, it’s a wonderful environment to live in. The only challenge we have really is providing the low cost housing that people need.”
Ms Pyne pointed to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, commonly known as the PALM scheme, as an example of how the sector was strengthening educational ties between Australia and the Pacific while simultaneously filling local skill shortages.
“We have also got five TAFE campuses in five different Pacific nations, training is being delivered into the Pacific … that allows workers from the Pacific to come and work in the region as well,” she said.
“It allows for temporary migration to address low-skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled labour shortages.
“While those workers are here we’re really looking at skilling them up so they can take those skills back into the Pacific as well … really making it easy for those workers to gain a formal qualification.”
Attracting women to historically male-dominated sectors such as construction and electrical work, as well as advertising what opportunities were on offer to the broader public, are strategies the industry is following to lure more young people to skilled work, Ms Pyne said.
“We’re seeing more and more women being made aware that’s a possibility for them and also being supported as they move into those industries,” she said.
“For employers, they’re able to tap into 50 per cent of the workforce that may not have considered working in those roles previously.”
Ms Pyne said there were a myriad of benefits to following a skilled work pathway.
“Sometimes it’s a bit challenging being on an apprentice wage for four years but once you graduate, you’ll never be out of work and you’ll always have the capacity to earn really, really attractive salary packages,” she said.
“We’ve got two brilliant universities here and we’ve got a large TAFE … we’re able to provide a lot of employment opportunities for young people and it’s about making sure that they’re aware of what those opportunities are and showing them how they can access those.”
Future Cairns will explore these opportunities and more, with an event proudly supported by Cairns Airport, James Cook University, Crystalbrook Collection Cairns, Ports North and NORSTA Maritime.
It will be held on Friday June 14, 11.30am to 2.30pm, in the Plenary Room at the Cairns Convention Centre.
Tickets can be booked at futurecairns2024.splashthat.com and cost $150 per person or $1350 for a table of ten.
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Originally published as Future Cairns: Pacific migration, women needed to plug Cairns’ skill shortages
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