Industry advocates have been invited to Canberra on Tuesday 23 August to discuss the skills crisis in aviation with Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Catherine King.
The round-table meeting has been planned ahead of the Federal Government's Jobs and Skills Summit scheduled for 1-2 September.
In inviting advocates, King said the round table would help the government's aviation program.
"In addition to informing preparations for the Jobs and Skills Summit, it is anticipated that the themes and outcomes from the round table will also help inform the Government’s work on the Aviation White Paper, which will set the scene for the next generation of growth and development across the aviation sector," she said.
Among the people invited to Canberra is Maddy Johnson, chair of the Australian Flight Training Industry Association (AFTIA).
"AFTIA is very supportive and very excited to be invited to the aviation round table with regard to skills and training for our sector," she told Australian Flying.
"We very much look forward to having positive and constructive discussions for outcomes that can be done quickly and will benefit all sectors of the aviation industry from foundation training all the way up as a collaborative process.
"Getting everyone together in the round table format should enable us all to work out where the commonality and differences lie, and what needs to be individually discussed."
During the meeting on Monday, industry representatives are expected to raise issues of a lack of engineers, trained pilots and flying instructors and well as obstructions to training pipelines.
RAAus Chair Michael Monck and CEO Matt Bouttell met with King last Tuesday, and will not be attending the round table on the 23 August due to board meetings scheduled in Adelaide that week. Instead, Jeff Boyd, chair of The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) will represent the interests of RAAus.
"During the meeting on Tuesday Minister King shared with RAAus the determination of the new Government to focus on addressing skills shortages within the aviation sector," said Bouttell in a communique to members.
"The Minister acknowledged that RAAus plays a significant role within the broader industry and our participation was sought in the Jobs and Skills Summit taking place in September.
"RAAus shared with the Minister some examples around how we can address some of the skilled personnel bottle necks including recognition of RAAus instructor hours within the CASA instructor system, along with leveraging further our CASR Part 149 certificate to simplify and streamline administration for private and recreational aviators."
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