Reviews of Queensland Government departments will see TMR backing cease next year
July 13, 2012
The transport and logistics industry in Queensland has 12 months to nail down the future of the well-regarded Transform industry skills initiative, which has been caught up in rationalisations of the education and transport department.
The State’s Transport and Main Roads (TMR) Department has warned that its hosting and funding of the Transform unit will end next June 30, when its contract to deliver Transition 2012 and Ignition 2012 ceases because they are “not considered to be core business”.
No new activities will be taken on.
TMR was contracted in 2006 by the then-Department of Education and Training, now Skills Queensland, to provide the services of a transport and logistics skills body for Queensland.
“While nothing is certain, and the Queensland Government has appointed a review of Skills Queensland, there will remain opportunity for State Government funding to be directed to industry skills programs across transport and logistics, the Queensland Trucking Association (QTA Ltd) says.
“The Transport and Logistics Workforce Advisory Group (TLWAG), of which QTA Ltd is a participating member, has undertaken a business review with the aim of continuing to deliver industry-led programs, albeit without a secretariat based in the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
“QTA Ltd acknowledges the opportunity to develop and implement new arrangements across the next 12 months with support from the Department and its Transform unit.”
The association says Transform was “acknowledged by the Ministerial Council some five years ago as a model to be adopted by all State Governments in working with the Transport and Logistics Industry to manage a response to issues and policies captured by the phrase ‘Skill Development and Skill Retention’”.
A response from the office of Training and Employment Minister John-Paul Langbroek on Transform’s likely future has been sought.
