Jobs and Skills Australia has opened a consultation on occupations that should be included in the Core Skills Occupation list. You need to make your voice heard to prevent refinish and panel technicians being taken off the list.
As an industry, we face systemic and ongoing skills shortages creating significant challenges for repairers to attract experienced and qualified tradespeople. It is pleasing to see progress in tackling our aging workforce with commitment from ACIA and the Motor Trades Associations to promote trade career opportunities in the industry. Repairers and other stakeholders are also heavily investing in developing and supporting apprentices to be the tradespeople of the future, but this takes time, and the skills shortage continues. In 2023 the Paint & Panel survey of 660 repairers reported 60% panel and 30% paint vacancies. Repairers also reported the biggest threat to their business in the next 12 months was skilled labour shortage (70%).
An effective strategy many collision repairers have undertaken to address skills shortages is to bring qualified tradespeople to Australia from overseas, but the immigration process can be complex. Jobs and Skills Australia has recently opened consultation on ‘roles’ included in the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) as part of the migration strategy reform. The CSOL defines the core skills that Australia needs to attract as part of the temporary skilled migration system. Jobs and Skills Australia has developed a model, that they will use alongside stakeholder engagement, to provide advice to Government for the reform. Specifically, the model will build on the Skills Priority List, identifying roles which are “in” and “out” of the CSOL, but also roles “targeted for consultation”.
Several roles which are important to our industry, such as panel beaters, vehicle painters, vehicle body builders and mechanics are on the “targeted for consultation list” rather than on the “in” list as they have been. This means that they are seeking input from relevant industry participants on why they think certain roles should be “in” the list.
The current strategy to mitigate the skills shortage via the support of migrant employees is vital to resource the industry. We need the support of repairers, suppliers, and industry stakeholders and associations to rally together and please take the time to visit the below link and make a submission before closure on 10 May 2024 (they can be short submissions).
You can learn more and make a submission at https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/topics/migration-strategy/draft-core-skills-occupations-list-csol-consultation