We know, and accept, that Tasmania is the oldest state in Australia, that we are ageing at a faster rate than any other state and that there are more people exiting the workforce than entering it. We know, and accept, that the ageing of the state is due to longer life expectancies, migration and, until recently, loss of people in the working age groups and thus reproductive age groups. Tasmania recently surpassed the Northern Territory for the highest birth rate and we are now producing children at a greater rate than the replacement rate (2.1 births per woman). This could be due to a number of reasons, all of which we are unable to detail here. However, one reason may be that, encouragingly, Tasmania is closing the gap on interstate migration losses to other states.
In 2002/03, Tasmania reverted from ongoing annual net losses in interstate migration, to a gain. Since then, apart from 2006/07, Tasmania has been welcoming more people to our state than fare welling. However, hidden in these numbers has been that we had continued to lose more people than we gained in the working age groups. This loss has now been contained to the 15 to 29 year old age group for the past three years.
Interstate movements are recorded and reported by Medicare, therefore we can not ascertain the specific reasons for this age group leaving the state. However, anecdotal evidence and a process of elimination would indicate the following reasons could be significant contributors:
• Employment opportunities
• Travel
• ‘greener pastures’
• Relocating with family/friends
• Study
Many post-school and tertiary education courses are not provided in Tasmania, in particular allied health professions. Below is a true example of a young Tasmanian’s experience in having to study interstate.
Case Study: Anna completed year 12 in Hobart in 1996. With a desire to become a physiotherapist, but realising she could not study in Tasmania, Anna was successful in being awarded a $20,000 per year scholarship by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) to study interstate. Anna was accepted to the University of NSW. Wanting to live and work in Tasmania when she completed her studies, Anna would contact the DHHS seeking placements in Tasmania for all of her rounds. She was advised that this was not possible as they had an existing arrangement with the University of Adelaide. Upon completion of her qualification, Anna still wished to return to Tasmania and applied for positions in Hobart, Launceston and the North West. Following up with the DHHS after being unsuccessful, she was advised that while her grades were good, they were not as good as other applicants. Anna worked interstate as a physio for a number of years before recently returning to Hobart, with her husband, but is no longer working as a Physiotherapist.
Conclusion: Given the age structure of our population and the rate of ageing, demand for occupations in the allied health professions will increase significantly, in a short time period. Regardless of whether or not our young people receive a scholarship to study interstate, we should be ensuring that there is a process in place to provide placement training and employment opportunities to Tasmanians wishing to return home.
Importantly, any strategy should not be limited to those in the allied health professions, but any occupation where education and/or training is not provided here.
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2 comments:
Just on your case study of Anna, my nephew (a Burnie kid) trained in Nursing at Launceston in early 2000’s got top marks all round and wanted to go into ER, the Royal knocked him back because his marks weren’t good enough, Royal Melbourne snapped him up, he exceeded his peers in every way and won several awards, he graduated in ER + and then decided to travel, Melbourne offered him anything to stay, he travelled and is now back there as one of the youngest Nurse Educators ever and on a fortune. He has married a Geelong girl and unlikely to return to Tassie.
I can never understand why we had such a good school of medicine formed here so many years ago and yet we are so short of good medical staff – what is the use of building such a fancy new hospital as the one that was designed for the waterfront if it cannot be filled with all the right people, and I don’t believe many of the reasons for shortages that are more politically driven than actual fact. But then, that is life these days, all driven by a person with a motive or grudge it seems.
The current state of the education system and post year 10 seems no different and we get to experience some of it through apprenticeships, though for the past few years all our apprentices have been engaged through Skilled Engineering. Recently we have signed up a 3rd year apprentice who was with Custom Cabinets and was put off last September. He has lost 6 months of his training but is now forging ahead here with us. Only over the past couple weeks we have been going through an exercise of finding a training position for my 21year old grandson. He came out of Uni last year having completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree, ditching the teaching he originally set out to do, and also the media studies he had latterly taken up. He decided to take a gap year and after 3 months of little luck attempting to find some employment he came here to the workshop virtually sweeping floors, found he loved it, and now wants to do a Boatbuilding type course. Had previously never had dirty hands.
This is now called Marine Craft Construction and his training will be done at Newport Campus of the Victorian University in Melbourne. Nothing available here. But that’s been the norm for years now – an island state without a boatbuilding course. The Wooden School at Franklin came into being partly because of this situation many years ago but originally the courses cost thousands of dollars and were more suited to retired/semi retired men who had sufficient funds to indulge in their passion. I think things have changed since then.
So skills shortages and lack of opportunity are not new to this state and certainly there is no visible improvement. But it’s the same with opportunity and there is little for us locally these days apart from the Antarctic work. We travel further constantly to find sufficient work to keep 50 men fully occupied – a ridiculous situation – but sadly no foreseeable change. Thankfully many of our employees enjoy the opportunity the distant work provides and we strive to ensure that we can maintain the effort required to satisfy the needs and demands of our distant clients.
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