This Rural Jobs & Skills Alliance (RJSA) of industry members and government organisations provides leadership and advice to government, service providers and other organisations on employment, skills, industry training and workforce planning issues on behalf of Queensland’s agriculture industries.
The RJSA has the pivotal role in establishing, leading and overseeing a collective approach to industry by providing strategic advice to the Queensland Government for skills and workforce planning issues.
RJSA is the point of reference for bodies charged with the development, review and maintenance of national packages relevant to Queensland agriculture and rural and related industries.
The RJSA is working with industry and government to develop an effective model for getting industry specific intelligence. Industry expertise will clearly identify workforce supply gaps and the best-value-for-money investment opportunities for training and skills expenditure.
The RJSA brings together various agriculture industry bodies to identify the sector’s workforce needs and seek effective solutions to ensure a sustainable agriculture workforce for Queensland.
Queensland Farmers’ Federation
Nursery and Garden Industry Queensland
Australian Prawn Farmers Association
Tropical Carbon Farming Innovation Hub
Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation
Queensland Government
The RJSA support producers, agricultural businesses, government and training service providers to make the best decisions on skills, jobs and training through our networks and expertise; and enable initiatives for them to attract, develop and retain an industry workforce needed to sustain growth.
The Alliance provides professional advice on current and emerging agricultural workforce needs. It collects and analyses industry intelligence and data, supported by on-ground evidence, to assist government policies and programs, and those of other service providers, to enable effective responses that align with industry priorities.
The RJSA management team now includes the new Industry Skills Advisory (ISA) member, this position is filled by Rod Morris.
The role is a contract with the Queensland Government reporting to and engaging with the Department of Education Small Business and Training.
Rod’s job is focused solely on primary industries in Queensland. He will engage with employers, small business and industry stakeholders to provide high quality, evidence-based industry advice and intelligence about current and emerging industry direction, regional skills needs and training solutions, jobs growth and employment opportunities.
In order to provide advice, the RJSA determines and collects market intelligence and data, supported by on-ground evidence, to assist government policies and programs, and those of other service providers, to enable effective responses that align with industry priorities.
The first major task of the Alliance was to define and conduct a survey “to determine the what and where of rural jobs and skills demand and what, if any, are the impediments to attracting and retaining appropriately skilled workers in those industries”.
See the entire report here.
The alliance provides strategic advice, recommendations and feedback to related initiatives that benefit Queensland agriculture, which include:
An important aspect of the Alliance is to transition to a whole-of-agriculture approach with a regional focus and this is being done with the new network of agriculture workforce regional officers across Queensland. QAWN is working with farmers in all sectors to find labour and skills solutions to help them grow their businesses. More details HERE.
These programs are important active connections between industry and schools. These industry-school engagement initiatives ensure effective education and training strategies are in place to equip the next generation of Queenslanders to fill the skilled jobs of the future.
The Schools Industry Partnership Program (SIPP) and the Kids to Farm project are managed by AgForce Queensland in partnership with the RJSA. The initiative aims to increase student’s understanding of where and how their food and fibre is produced, and the important role agriculture plays in Australia’s way of life, regional communities and economy. Details HERE.
The Agribusiness Gateway to Industry Schools program (AGISP) was developed to combat skills shortages across agribusinesses and improve the attraction and retention of a skilled employees to ensure a sustainable workforce into the future.
Currently QFF coordinates interim industry advice to the industry engagement section of DET and we expect further changes to these arrangements as that Department focuses more on annual VET Investment processes and training industry responses to them.
Nationally, QFF engages with our new Skills Service Organisation, Skills Impact and are working out how Queensland might best engage with the new VET product development processes and the pivotal roles of Industry Reference Committees (IRCs). There is also a process for developing four Year Work Plans for these IRCs.
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