Sweet news on workers
Training to crush skills shortage
The efforts of a determined North Queensland chamber of commerce has helped train a dozen graduates to fill a major labour shortfall on the eve of the sugarcane harvest.
Hinchinbrook Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism president Mary Brown said a shortage in workers during the crush had been a long-running issue in North Queensland, exacerbated by a protracted season in the Herbert River that ended just before Christmas last year.
“This has been a long time in the making, it’s something that we’ve identified for a very long time … that skill shortage across the agricultural sector,” she said.
“It came to the fore last year with a particularly difficult (harvest) season and we witnessed a lot of operators who for the first time in my lifetime were actually out there advertising because there was not enough skilled representatives
around to be able to pull from the labour pool they traditionally rely on.”
Ms Brown said she initiated discussions with industry bodies “many years ago”.
“There was an appetite, but no one to drive it and no momentum, but after last year’s season … we were at real risk this year not to have crews to get our harvest off, which will
impact the entire Hinchinbrook economy.”
She said the chamber in conjunction with five stakeholder partners and training provider Happy Days Training had formulated a barebones, week-long course at $3100 per student. The former deputy mayor said the costs were covered for all but one student by grant funding.
Haul-out operators can earn up to $50,000 for a 22-26 week harvest.
She said she hoped that the 12 students gathered at the Macknade Golf Club to meet potential employees during graduation on Thursday all secured jobs.
“We’re incredibly chuffed with what we’ve achieved, it’s exceeded our expectations.”
Ms Brown said the chamber and its partners were seeking to expand the program. “Our very ultimate goal is a career pathway into agriculture.”
The 2023 season began in the Atherton Tablelands this week, as growers, harvesting crews and mill workers race to get Queensland’s 30 million tons of cane cut and crushed by the end of November.