Prue Younger, CEO Message

With the pressure on the industry with increased harvest volumes in some regions and in others the potential to be part of the billion tree plant, the need to gather more trained and skilled employees is very important even bordering on critical. So along with Competenz, FICA is working in partnership to build better and more suitable training programmes on site that will ensure a sustainable workforce. Competenz launched a new revised apprenticeship programme that will give forestry workers the flexibility they need to successfully earn credits while working and apprentices could qualify for two years of funding under the government's new "fees free" scheme. Industry training organisation Competenz has launched two forest harvesting apprenticeships - one in manual operations and one in mechanised operations. They have been designed with extensive input from Forest Industry Contractors Association (FICA) members, logging contractors and forestry managers to ensure they are modern and practical. Do we think this programme could be rolled out across other sectors of the industry, let's ask our contractors and industry what success they have had with apprentices.