QLD skills drive a race against time

BRISBANE: The Textile Clothing and Footwear Association of Queensland (TCFAQ) has launched an urgent initiative to stem the tide of diminishing TCF skills across the state.

TCFAW vice chair Scott Robinson said as the Federal Government's TCF Review gathered industry feedback, the TCFAQ had joined forces with leading skills organisation Manufacturing Skills Queensland (MSQ)to assess the true extent of Queensland's skills gap. "Because of the review the shortfall in skills in Queensland has been highlighted," he said, adding the state's TAFE and tertiary sector had hitherto fallen short of creating work-ready TCF employees.

"A lot of these young people are going off to study fashion design but they're not actually emerging from education with the necessary technical or business skills to survive in the industry," he said. Young people were being failed by educators because they were not being made aware of - or prepared for - TCF career pathways, he said.

"My understanding is that there is currently a less than one per cent success rate in terms of young people leaving education and getting a solid career. That's not good enough."

Robinson and TCFAQ secretary Geoff Makin had approached MSQ for assistance in assessing the skills shortfall and designing courses to fill it, with skills surveys sent to all TCFAQ members. In a letter to members the TCFAQ said it was "very encouraged that more than 30 per cent of the surveys were returned to us".

"This is a great result and shows that our industry is concerned about the future direction we need to take. No matter the outcome of the review we feel that the only people who can really move our industry forward are those of us in the industry. We know the challenges that face us into the future and we largely have some suggestions to solve these issues. These ideas need to be heard by both state and federal Governments."

The TCFAQ had also launched a membership drive to attain "better representation", Robinson said, adding Australian manufacturing was "at a critical point". This was particularly true in Queensland where the average age of patternmakers, machinists and embroidery specialists was around 50. "The approach to luring young people into this industry needs to change and it needs to change quickly. I'd say we have about five years to turn things around, and that's not a lot of time."

By Belinda Smart