Training Available In A Call Out For Haulout

By Kevin Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay

The Mackay region is steamrolling towards the 2023 crush and now is the time to get on board with CANEGROWERS Mackay’s Haulout Driver training courses.

There is a high demand for haulout drivers at farms across the region during harvest season, and CANEGROWERS Mackay goes out hard to attract labour from the local workforce, but also from outside the region, with travelling rural workers and “working holidayers like backpackers and grey nomads.

Training is an important part of helping make sure we have the harvest workers we need, and CANEGROWERS Mackay has developed an outstanding grower-led, RTO-backed training course. The course was developed and is delivered by fully qualified trainer growers who have had a longstanding connection to the program.

Last year, the two four-day courses attracted people across different ages, backgrounds and genders, we are hoping to see that again when they run on 2 and 8 May, training 20 people new to the cane harvesting sector.

This training is important for our members, for new workers, and for our industry. For over 14 years we have run this training program, which builds safety and capability in people looking to join the cane harvesting sector.

While you can drive the haulout tractors on a C class driver’s licence, these are big machines that have their own demands. We want new drivers to be safe, competent, and confident behind the wheel, and working with experienced grower harvesters, on the farm with real machinery, gives them a great start.

Last year a collaboration between Queensland Agricultural Workforce Network (QAWN) supported running a second course for the first time, bolstering the original course funded by the Queensland Government through its Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative.

We are proud to say that because of that success, the Queensland Government has not only funded us directly for two courses in 2023, but that this will extend for the next three years. That means, over the next three years, CANEGROWERS Mackay is assured of 60 trained haulout drivers being supported into the region’s sugar industry, responding to ongoing critical labour shortages at harvest season.

The courses are fully funded (ie: free for participants) and open to a wide range of job-seekers, with women returning to the workforce, ATSI and under-employed workers all encouraged to apply.

Training is backed by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) trainer-assessor, and participants will also gain four units of competency towards a Cert II in Rural Operations.

We were able to make some interesting observations during last year’s running of the course, which included the participation of older workers just past - or near - retirement age. Several had worked across other agricultural sectors in their career and were now looking to the pleasures of the warmer winter climate of Mackay.

Older workers have a great deal to offer: they are typically reliable, and more careful with equipment. They come with a lifetime of working experience, and the seasonal work suits the work/life balance they are looking for

There have been significant shifts in employment trends over recent years, and this avenue into agriculture also presents a great opportunity for people looking to shift industries.

To find out more, and to register for screening, contact CANEGROWERS Mackay Training Co-ordinator Deborah Fowler on 4944 2600. Applications close Friday, April 14. You can read more on the web at mackaycanegrowers.com.au.

This training is proudly funded by the Queensland Government through its Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative.

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Grower and lead trainer Ron Gurnett talks trainees through features of a harvester in last year’s training CAPTION 2: Training is a mix of practical and theory. Photo credit: Kirili Lamb

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