Addressing the skills shortage crisis: A call to action

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

We've never been more reliant on the vital contributions of international workers, as local interest dwindles and racing demands surge.

“To fulfil a seven day working week, we need a lot more staff, so if we can’t source more staff whether locally or internationally, then we restrict our roster and start saying well we’ll only race these select days”, said Robbie Griffiths, echoing the urgency of the industry skill shortage situation.

The federal government’s Jobs and Skills Australia recently released its draft criteria for skills shortage visas - alarmingly occupations such as horse trainers, horse breeders, track riders and jockeys are all in danger of being excluded from these lists.

This potential oversight could have major impacts. However, the window for consultation before the government finalises these changes at year-end, allows for the industry voice to be heard.

An expert approach

In a discussion with the The Thoroughbred Report, seasoned migration lawyer Sharon Harris stressed the necessity for the industry to voice its concerns, particularly because government decisions are predominantly influenced by information which is distorted in the first place.

“I know one of the factors that they use to identify skills shortages are job advertisements. And the interesting aspect is that nobody in this industry bothers to advertise because it's a futile exercise. People don't look for their jobs through advertisements.

While the government uses job advertisement rates to gauge demand, these metrics are skewed because the roles are often filled by the sponsored individuals themselves, which does not accurately reflect the actual demand for those positions.

“It is a legal requirement for employers to advertise when seeking to fill a position by a sponsored visa holder and those advertisements constitute much of what we see on Racing Jobs Australia, Indeed or Jora, which is what the government relies on to assess skills shortages”.

Despite recognising various contributing factors to the industry’s staffing shortages, Harris emphasises the importance of keeping these occupations on the skills lists to address urgent labour gaps.

“We are filling a gap where the Australians don't want to work. I've got trainers that are in their 60s, riding trackwork and working 18 hours a day because they cannot get staff. The lack of safety in those practices is scary”.

“I don't know whether demand has increased because we've always had a demand, but I think the desperation has become more apparent. A lot of the smaller country and regional trainers in particular and a lot of the studs are finding it far more difficult to actually get people to come to those areas to work, and that’s where visa holders come into effect.

“We have got the opportunity to bring in people from overseas and with Singapore and Macau closing their racing jurisdictions, where are they going? We've got a fantastic opportunity for bringing in people just to fill the gap until Australia starts to train, or create training centres to train up the locals”.

Harris stresses the need for a unified voice from the racing industry to communicate its labour shortages to the federal government.

This approach follows the successful example set by British racing, where, after considerable lobbying efforts by the National Trainers Federation and British Horseracing Authority, six key roles were recently added to the government's skills shortage lists to improve access to interntional employees.

Newmarket-based trainer Harry Eustace has praised the recent changes, emphasising their broad benefits. As an employer of a select group of international staff, Eustace pointed out that improved visa access has industry-wide positives.

“What it does is, even if it's not me directly employing international workers, improved access to visas increases the pool of workers in general and frees up more people".

In a global industry, another benefit of enhanced international recruitment is the flexibility it offers employers to share staff across different regions. Harry shared insights from his experiences with his younger brother, David, formerly co-trainer with Ciaron Maher who now trains in Hong Kong.

“We've actually shared staff between the two countries, it's beginning to wind down in Australia now so we’ve got an Australian at the moment, and then we sent our apprentice through the winter down to Australia. We would try to keep that going all year-round. It obviously helps each other out, but also enhances the skills of the staff involved”.

Yet, this beneficial practice is at risk if our government classifies key industry roles as non-essential. Despite British racing providing a model example with its effective governance, the fragmented nature of Australia's thoroughbred industry reduces its impact. Harris emphasises the critical need for all industry participants to communicate our labour needs more effectively.

“The industry needs to tell the federal government about its skill shortages. Unfortunately we do not have a united voice speaking on behalf of racing across Australia and that is a shame.

“We’re going to need every single state and as many individuals as possible to actually put forward the evidence that there is a staff crisis on the industry’s behalf.

“I would suggest not only the industry bodies I would say everyone from individual trainers, farm owners and employees, as the more voices that are heard, the stronger our chance of protecting our industry occupations from being removed from lists”.

Industry Reactions and Concerns

Robbie Griffiths, President of the Australian Trainers Association (ATA) and a prominent trainer himself, is surprised by the findings and stresses the potential ramifications should visa conditions tighten for industry occupations.

“Through the eyes of the ATA and as a trainer that employs many people, I find the data regarding skills shortages to be disbelieving”.

Griffiths advocates for a more nuanced approach to understanding the labour needs of the equine industry, suggesting that an audit or investigation might reveal a more significant shortage of skilled workers than currently acknowledged.

“I would have thought that if they did a thorough audit or investigation on all the racing stables in Victoria, there would be quite a big shortage of track riders and ground staff especially now the seven day racing is upon us and more night meetings are evident through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and maybe Saturday night during the warm seasons.

“Without knowing the full facts, the data could be distorted because I think you'll find a lot of trainers that work seven days just go, you know, this is too hard, and they just stop trying to source internationals to work on visas.

“I do think part of the audit process moving forward to get a clear picture of our industry would be to actually ask a lot of the workforce who haven't applied because it's too difficult or who hasn't applied because they got knocked back. I think that will change the data a lot.

The consequences

Griffiths points out that if stricter visa conditions for occupations within the thoroughbred industry are implemented, it could trigger a cascade of consequences for both employers and employees.

“I would imagine the impact would come about restricting trainers' rosters by extending their hours and putting them into overtime, which creates a fatigue problem.

“The industry and employers want improved mental health, safer work environments, and reduction of workplace fatigue for all. At the moment, people are starting at 4am, driving to the races and getting home at 11pm and doing it all again the next day.

“Trainers will do more themselves and their staff will do more overtime. Trainers will stretch their skeleton arm structure or they just won't run at some meetings because they'll say it's too hard to go there, we're running seven days a week.

“Trainers will start sharing with one another. They'll start saying to their next door neighbour, can you saddle up mine for me please as my staff are tired. Then you’ve got the work cover problem that’s already gone up from 7 per cent to 11 per cent.”

The bigger picture

Keith Callanan, Managing Director of Elite Equine Group, has established a recruitment division within his business to help farm owners and managers hire seasonal staff. Serving as an intermediary between employees and employers, Callanan has observed a high turnover rate in the industry and underscores the significant dependence on the international labour market to address this shortfall.

“We came up with the plan to address the need for short-term, seasonal staff and to be totally honest with you, 90 per cent of our applicants would be from overseas.

“Studs from Victoria all the way up to the Hunter and even into Queensland all have the same issue. We came up with a short term recruitment solution to fulfil what they require and it's worked really well and people keep coming back to us”.

While Callanan has nailed the short-term solution, he is completely frank about the broader issue at hand, speaking of the lack of incentive for the domestic workforce to partake in the industry due to an array of factors.

“Number one, the opportunity and number two, the growth in the industry is just not there at the moment.

“Why would anyone want to go and work every second weekend and get poor money? We are competing with industries that have clear opportunities and pathways, they don’t work relentless hours and they get paid well”.

Call to action

Table: Jobs and Skills Australia's current skills priority list

The table provided outlines the current classifications of some of our key industry roles, and many will undoubtedly find the results baffling. This is why stakeholders are strongly encouraged to participate in the survey and submit their responses to help Jobs and Skills Australia refine the labour market data. This information is crucial to ensuring that the updated Core Skills Occupations List reflects the actual needs of industries reliant on specialised skills such as those in the thoroughbred sector.

Responses can be provided through the following link, with the survey open until Friday, May 10, 2024, and submissions accepted until 5:00 PM AEST on Friday, May 31, 2024.