Cane haulout operations course set to roll

HINCHINBROOK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY & TOURISM INC.

WITH critical skilled worker shortages having been identified within cane harvesting operations, progressive industry stakeholders within Hinchinbrook's farming and training sectors have collaborated to design a course to combat very real and recognised gaps in one of our region's largest industries.

Hinchinbrook Chamber of Commerce Industry and Tourism President Mrs Mary Brown said that the development of a new Cane Haulout Operator's Course is the first step in addressing skill shortages and, indeed, staffing shortages for the upcoming harvesting season.

"Chamber recognised that skills shortages in the harvesting sector had the potential to impact the broader local economy, and our role as a business representative organisation, is to find real solutions to issues affecting our membership and the broader community," said Mrs Brown.

"Stakeholders have come together to consider the skills beneficial to the harvesting sector and have packaged those competencies into a five-day course to help those looking to enter the harvesting sector to do so with confidence.

"Equally important to this, is that employers are able to obtain operators who have been inducted into the industry's required skill-sets, before putting them behind the wheel or in a paddock."

The Cane Haulout Operator Course will run from 17th – 21st April 2023 in Ingham and will deliver outcomes relating to the operation and maintenance of a cane haulout and basic harvester maintenance; and have participants complete a generic siding induction and safe work within a powerline environment training.

Mrs Brown has congratulated the stakeholders who have come together to devise this industry-specific course, which will deliver real outcomes for our district and the cane growing and harvesting sectors.

"Industry representatives have come