Queensland: skilled worker shortage

The head of Queensland’s leading industry body says choosy workers are making will make it difficult to fill the skills gaps in the state. In the next year, 30000 workers will be needed in the Bowen Basin, and Queensland Resources Council chief executive said he was shocked to discover 2500 unfilled places exist in the minerals and resources sector alone.
“At the moment the workforce is being very choosy, you really have to move heaven and earth to make it attractive for them because they do have alternatives, particularly the younger generation,” he told The Daily Mercury.
"They are very mobile, they can get on a plane and fly to Mackay or Moranbah or they can maybe stay on the plane an extra couple of hours and fly to Western Australia, and I'm hearing for some of those jobs there is a premium to be paid.”

He said the mining boom will be held back by the skills shortage, despite initiatives to expand the industry.
“The fundamentals are excellent and it has to be good news for Bowen Basin communities and places like Mackay.
"The number one constraint of being able to realise that potential is the skills issue.”
The QRC boss has welcomed the moves by the Gillard Government to find a balance between training locals and allowing skilled migrants into Australia to fill the vacancies.
“We were pleased with the Federal Budget initiatives,” he said.
"A sensible balance between training up the local workforce, accelerating apprenticeships, more money for training and some easing up on facilitation of being able to bring in migrant labour, particularly for those really big projects.
“Hopefully the people of the Mackay region will understand that with projects there is a construction phase with a very high peak workforce and then there are the ongoing jobs.
“My vision is that we make sensible use of, for the short term construction phases, let's use migrant labour sensibly to fill gaps there and let's maximise then the permanent on-going jobs for locals, that is the happy mix and that is what we are aiming for,” Mr Roche said.

In the recent federal budget, treasurer Wayne Swan announced funding to speed up the completing apprenticeships and gaining qualifications. Education Queensland Trade Training Centre project officer Bob Baker told The Mercury offers of big money and ease of entering the resources sectors in other regions were taking young people away from the Bowen Basin and towards south-east and Western Australia.
“At the moment a lot of young people are actually going elsewhere for training as well and then are finding other opportunities in other places.,” he said.
“If they train elsewhere then the transition becomes very easy then for them to move to wherever the biggest money is.
“If we can have the opportunities here for them in Mackay, then they will stay here.
“As a region we are competing with the south-east corner and other major areas of interest like Western Australia, where there is more action, more services, and more resources for families.”
Baker said there needs to be more focus on developing Mackay’s tourism and infrastructure.
http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/choosy-workers-damaging-resouce-sector--qrc-boss

McDonalds imports workers into WA to fill gaps caused by mining

As the skills shortage becomes increasingly dire and jobs in the mining and resource sectors offering huge financial incentives for employees, a Queensland McDonald’s has been forced to recruit staff from capital cities. Burger flippers are in short supply in Mount Isa and the fast-food giant has resorted to importing workers from Brisbane, New limited reports. Teenagers usually make up a large portion of staff at McDonald’s outlets, but in the Mount Isa region, the high-paying jobs in the mines are far more attractive.

The wages, combined with flexible rosters and graduate and career advancement programs have lured many away from the traditional retail and fast-food roles and into the mines. Small businesses are also struggling to compete with the offers mining companies are making. Like the mining industry, which incorporates travel into many positions, especially with fly-in fly-out (FIFO) roles, the Mount Isa McDonald’s has become the first to offer covering travel costs for those willing to take a full time job.

The full-time role at the fast-food chain would pay $718 per week, and employees who stay four months are entitled to a free return bus trip to Brisbane, while those who stay six months can have a return plane ride covered. Manager Joy Mendoza told News Limited the company struggled to fill vacancies locally and decided to advertise the position in Brisbane as an opportunity to see the Outback.

"We're really understaffed and we wanted to attract people," she said. "I was quite overwhelmed with the response. “They're actually interested in coming up to Mount Isa and some are saying they just want to give it a try."

Mount Isa Chamber of Commerce President Brett Peterson said young people can double the amount they would be paid in retail or food employment with a role in the mines. The high wages in mining towns contribute to the high cost of living, with Moranbah in the Bowen Basin named the most expensive place to live in the state. At a mining camp near Moranbah, a kitchen hand can earn up to $85 000 and maintenance and office employees can make double what they would in a similar role outside the mining industry.

30,000 new jobs on 38 Queensland developments

More than 30,000 new jobs are anticipated over the next six years to support 38 projects slated for development in the Bowen Basin in Queensland. The 38 new developments consist of 23 new coal mines and 12 coal seam gas projects as well as three mineral projects, in total generating more than five billion tonnes of resources over the next two decades. Whilst 10,000 jobs have been directly identified with the mining industry, the Mackay Area Industry Network (MAIN) anticipates an additional two jobs for every one created.

Coal projects include BMA’s Caval Ridge coal mine, QCoal’s Byerwen coal mine, Macarthur Coal’s Codrilla mine and Hancock Prospecting’s Alpha Coal mine.  Coal seam gas projects include Australia Pacific LNG and Gladstone LNG.

MAIN has rightly identified the need to urgently address infrastructure and skills issues in regional areas of Queensland. The Resource Channel is currently running a poll on whether or not Fly In, Fly Out from Brisbane to Queensland sites is supported as an alternative to residential arrangements

QLD and WA collaborate to solve mining skills shortage

As the skills shortage in the resource industry continues to worsen, peak industry groups in Western Australia and Queensland have joined with a national industry skills council to address the issue. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia (CME), Queensland Resources Council (QRC) and SkillsDMC have joined forces to create strategies to sources the huge number of workers needed over the next five to 10 years.

In Western Australia alone, 33 000 workers will be needed in the next year, and 30 000 will be required in the next six years at the Bowen Basin.As part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed to by the industry groups, an objective of the three year agreement will be the development of skills initiatives to be implemented.

Projects under the MoU will include:

• Defining and implementing a national skills policy for the mining sector


• Providing timely workforce planning data to support skills advocacy functions with state and federal governments


• Knowledge transfer for local and state operational outcomes


• Brokering funds to support commonly agreed objectives


• Enhanced consultation and consistency on skills-related submissions


• Establishing lead agencies for projects and issues to maximise the strengths and opportunities provided by the MoU partners

QME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said Queensland and Western Australia are up against very similar problems in their skills shortage.
‘Our ability to source skilled labour will prove vital in the delivery of projects on time and on budget,’ he said.
‘Our ability to source skilled labour will prove vital in the delivery of projects on time and on budget,’ Mr Howard-Smith said.
‘Where there is mutual benefit, this new, non-binding collaboration, allows the partners to work towards securing policy and initiatives that will underpin national prosperity for decades to come.’

QRC chief executive Michael Roche has echoed Howard-Smith’s comments and says the partnership will make it possible to tackle the problems in the mining sectors in both states.
“The MoU comes at a crucial moment in time to work towards ensuring the development and long-term sustainability of the resources sector in Queensland and Australia,” Roche said
“In the wake of a record $31 billion of new investment recently committed in Queensland alone by LNG developers, it is imperative we band together in order to meet the sector’s increasing workforce needs to support this unprecedented growth.

“No single state can resolve the skills issues we face on its own.’
The chief executive of SkillsDMC, Steve McDonald said planning for the future is the key to solving the issues.
“The enterprises with which we work understand the importance of continual upskilling and training and understand the need to plan for the prosperity of the industry, to ensure that even more critical skills gaps are avoided in the future.
“Industry must position itself to minimise the impact of a retiring workforce, and one that is not currently upskilled to levels that are crucial to industry productivity.
“It is the goal of this collaborative partnership to find solutions to these issues.’

Following the announcement of the federal budget by Treasurer Wayne Swan last week, employers in the resource in industry are urging the Federal Government to ignore demands from political groups and unions opposed to increasing the level of skilled migration. The Government’s announcement on Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMA’s) was welcomed by resource industry employer AMMA. The budget will see an increase in workers as it lifts the level of skilled labour imports and gives companies incentives through a $558 million employment fund.

The National Workforce Development Fund, launched today, is designed to create 130,000 new training places over the next four years.A new enterprise migration agreement for large mining projects in return for a financial contribution to train Australians will be implemented, with the aim of allowing 16,000 skilled immigrants to enter the country to work in some key regions where there is a labour shortage.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/qld-and-wa-collaborate-to-solve-mining-skills-shor