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TAFE , the outfit I work for has placed the majority of full time staff into a couple tafe courses. The fellow who is running the one I am in has said no one fails ! Great , I asked about texts for further reading , again don't worry all is provided in hand outs. Can't see too much learning to be had here. Also as a delivery driver , I am not sure why I am in a business course ? I did ask about ohs or first aid but not available.
Standards certainly varied, but the same problem exists with private providers who just pass people up without ensuring they are competent. There are supposed to be two competent assessments for every learning outcome.
I remember some years ago a friend who is a university lecturer failed an entire class of 26 students on a yearly result. The entire class had to study the course again at their own cost. Fortunately the administration backed him. Good on them for maintaining standards, I say.
I'm not sure about the economics.
Has Australia's wealth always come from the ground ? Gold , grass for sheep to eat- wool,iron ore etc.
Can we make really good stuff like Germany? And sell it at s good profit. Maybe.
Can we make really bad stuff really cheaply? No.
Can we invade another country and steal their stuff? No
Really cheap labour i.e. slavery isn't that acceptable these days.
How to get other countries money?
Simple economies aren't hurting the oil countries, tight controls certainly help.
Maybe the world uranium producing companies organisation? Headed by Australia with their headquarters at Olympic dam .
Two observations,
For all those on 457, there are many many Australians working overseas earning a living , so it's a two way street. This is not an attempt to justify exploitation or a race to the bottom, which i imagine does occur.
5 years ago, sitting at home unemployed, a job came up in PNG, i have to accept seeing the family only 3 or 4 times a year, but it's a job, which has turned into a bloody good job. Sometimes you have to do the unusual to feed the family.
our economie is less complex then Saudi ArabiaQuote:
Originally Posted by fitzy
Why not start our own nuke weapons facility? That way the rest of the world will completely ostracise us, and we will have to kickstart our own manufacturing industry again, because nobody will want to be seen doing business with us. All our iron and bauxite etc. will be used locally, and we can keep this up until we have zero unemployment, and people get used to going to work. All the banks will be nationalised, no more foreign investment means we will see the re-emergence of a nationally owned development bank, funding real, necessary infrastructure growth, and superannuation dollars being used to profit the nation, not some overseas banking cartels.
Vive la revolution !!!
For those with no sense of humour, this comment was delivered with tongue firmly in cheek!
The world uranium price is set by the "demand" side of the supply and demand equation. Unfortunately, the "demand" for uranium has fallen significantly over recent years, and with it the price. While it is good to see that some governments in Australia have done away with their previous "no new uranium mines" policy which was always doomed to failure, the current reality is that I doubt we will see any new uranium mines for a long time, because the price simply isn't there to support any new start-ups. And with world opinion on nuclear power generation where it is at the moment - I don't foresee any real change for a long time - certainly not in my lifetime. [wink11]Quote:
Originally Posted by fitzy
There is a lot of activity in the rest of the mining industry though - particularly in gold and iron ore. I have had a bit over two years off work recently - I was made redundant by my last full time employer when the iron ore price fell in a hole, and have not seriously looked for a job since - I was still doing a bit of consulting / contract work for my previous employer, so enough to keep a bit of coin trickling in. A few months ago, I was offered what was then a "relieving" manager's role at a gold mine only about half hour's drive from home. Didn't really want the job at the time, but took it anyway - and am now quite enjoying the role. It has not come to the stage where I have to speak with them tomorrow to find out what their longer term intentions are, and whether they are serious about a previous verbal offer to retain me on a full time basis. I currently have three other job offers on the table, and need to make some decisions this week.
Of the three - one is a management position in another local gold operation - I'm not interested at all in that one. Another is a fixed term contract, managing a major upgrade of a processing facility at another mine - a bit further from home and would be a FIFO position. Not at the top of my list, but I'd look at it in the absence of other offers. The third is basically a position I used to have quite a few years back, as a manager of an iron ore mine which, from a lifestyle and scenery point of view, has no match in this country. New owners, some of the same people I worked with before and good money - but again, a FIFO role.
My preference is towards a local job these days, where I'm home every night. At 60, I've done enough FIFO and the way airports are going these days, I'd rather not be frequenting them if I can avoid it. But I would do it again if the job I chose required it.
There's definitely no shortage of work in this industry though - everywhere I look, people are screaming for good, experienced workers. I know what difficulty we have recently had filling a couple of positions - and our site is considered one of the better ones to work at with above average pay. Our workforce is an average of ~ 50 yrs old. We like to employ experienced people from the days where "common sense" was not a term to be frowned on, and we do not have any of the "over the top" safety and other regulations / procedures / bull**** that has ruined so much of the industry these days. I'm even allowed to wear a Leatherman on my belt again .................. [biggrin]
I have to agree with some posters with much the same attitude as myself towards work. Do it when you enjoy it and push off somewhere else when you don't stay at a place you hate and whinge about it.
I've had to pester people for a job sometimes but mostly was never out of work for long even when jobs were supposedly hard to come by. Apart from when I was being shafted as I've said above, the only time I was really out of work was through illness and that went for about a year.
Not only was I sick but had the usual things like a mortgage and kids etc. to think about. But as soon as the drugs took hold and I felt better I went and got a cab driving licence then after a couple of months bought a plate.
I've always enjoyed night shift even with the problems you can experience with **** heads etc., but hated day driving and found putting up with mums and their horrid kids, shopping trolleys full they expected you to pack away for them nice and neatly, was just too much. Then the traffic and Perth drivers drove me madder.....
Stuck it out for about 5 years then sold up and went bus driving then when they privatised the drivers took redeployment and went into the public service. Don't believe all the crap about security of jobs there.... when ever there's a change of government or a new idiot takes over the department o place you're working, the hassles begin and the brown nosing and back stabbing never stops.
But I stuck it a few years as it was close to home and then retired.
AlanH.
PS. Same as AndyG, I've worked away from home for years when you worked 3 months away for a lousy 10 days home..... but that is what you did unless you could wangle one of the few jobs on a rig off shore etc. I've seen the blokes crying down the phone to the wife and I've known blokes do horrid things to themselves to get flown out..... gives me the poops hearing those who whinge about being away from home for 2 whole weeks.
Thats BS and a very near sighted view. Why should I relocate again, when we have settled where we are? Why should I uproot my wife and kids again that have lives where we are to go back to a country town with no facilities..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatso
Yep heard that quite a few times when I was out of work , just attempting to get by on agency casual placements. My wife who enjoys doing our budget set a min I had to make per month. If I attempted to follow the harvest trail , the cost of fixing the vehicle and perhaps a camper to live in would result in about a year behind in the budget . Also as she had a semi decent job , it would not be fair to ask her to come join me , or to go through with the costs of putting all our stuff in storage and try and rent the house again.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigE
Now I am in a full time job close to home , took four years of the casual roller coaster. Not a great place , but to go through the same again , I just couldn't do it again. Not one application submitted resulted in an offer in that time.