National Tourism Jobs Summit

By Naomi Dale

Photo: Supplied From Left to right: Brett Fraser (Queensland), Paula Martin (NSW), Luke Martin(Tasmania), Naomi F Dale (ACT), Shaun deBruyn (SA), Felicia Mariani (VIC), Evan Hall (WA) and Erin McLeod (Australian Tourism Industry Council)

Tourism leaders from across Australia gathered in Canberra on Wednesday 31 August for the first ever National Tourism Jobs Summit.

Called by the new Federal Tourism Minister, Senator Don Farrell, the forum was confronted with the reality of the scale of the workforce challenge and skill shortages across the Australian visitor economy, as tourism continues to recover from the COVID disruptions.

Importantly, the day also identified clear priorities for industry and all levels of government to progress as part of the national jobs strategy.

This includes immediate strategies to kick-start skilled migration and working holiday makers, support for flexible training solutions to upskill the existing tourism and hospitality workforce, re-positioning tourism as a career of choice, and recognising the critical issue of workers accommodation and housing shortages in tourism hotspots.

The outcomes of the day will be taken forward by government and industry leaders, as part of this week’s Federal Government Jobs Summit.

Presenting the perspective of their combined 10,000 members across every corner of regional Australia, the CEOs of 7 of Australia’s 8 State and Territory Tourism Industry Councils were present at today’s Summit:

Brett Fraser (Queensland), Paula Martin (NSW), Luke Martin(Tasmania), Naomi F Dale (ACT), Shaun deBruyn (SA), Felicia Mariani (VIC), Evan Hall (WA) and Erin McLeod (Australian Tourism Industry Council)

In an effort to persuade students in years 10 and 12 to pursue the economics discipline, Leonie Pearson took part in a panel discussion on Women in IT and Economics on Wednesday 20 July at the Canberra Grammar School.

Leonie did not give the standard economics 101 presentation; instead, she shared her passion and enthusiasm for how economics can be used to address significant real-world issues like climate change, highlighting her experience of creating a soil carbon market with farmers in NSW and her varied work history from Mekong Water stakeholder engagement to merchant banking. "The feedback was amazing, it was the first event of this kind to be organized, and if even half the girls enrolled in the subjects, then that will double the women in these subjects at school or Uni," she said. Leonie also added 'that a few girls came up after and wanted to know if they could study economics at UC and how it worked – especially surprising as 2 of them had come for the IT talk! Also, it looks like one student might transfer from UC business to UC economics – sorry!’

Leonie left a few UC and SCOPES flyers and paraphilia at the school and offered to return the following year or engage in other ways. Leonie wondered whether we could follow up by developing students projects that might invite along some high school students.

Our Engagement Actvities

School Outreach

BGL staff have been inspiring school students to study business, government and law at UC in recent weeks. A BGL contingent visited Lake Ginninderra College in March to discuss the Ukraine crisis from a multidisciplinary perspective. We also welcomed groups from Lake Tuggeranong College and Hawker College on campus this week to learn about the worlds of economics, finance and digital marketing. We have received positive feedback from all involved and hope to see some of these students enrol in BGL degrees in the coming years. A big thank you to all staff involved for their time and passion – Bomikazi Zeka, Irfan Khan, John Hawkins, Raymond Li, Michael Walsh, Ben Freyens, Bruce Arnold and Heba Batainah.

Yarning Circles in BGL

We are thrilled that Dr Wayne Applebee is now on board on Wednesdays to facilitate a Faculty-wide program of cultural supervision for BGL academics who are directly involved in embedding the Indigenous Graduate Attributes and Indigenising the Curricula. Wayne will be working alongside academics to critically reflect on the scholarship of teaching and learning and their own practice. Yarning Circles will be an important way to engage with this process, and all BGL disciplines will be involved. This strategy aligns with UC’s Indigenising the Curriculum Strategy and the new Universities Australia Indigenous Strategy 2022-2025.

Wayne is a senior leader within the Aboriginal community (equivalent of a Judge or senior practitioner) with immense knowledge about Aboriginal cultures. As a Kamilaroi man, Wayne teaches perspectives of Aboriginal cultures that derive from that nation. Wayne is an alumnus of the Canberra Law School and completed his PhD with FAD.

A GUIDE TO THE APPROPRIATE TERMINOLOGY WHEN REFERRING TO AUSTRALIA’S FIRST PEOPLE

Please be aware that the terms Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander does not correctly describe the situation at the point of ‘First Contact’ with the British colonisation.

Before British colonisation there were over 250 languages with 800 dialects spoken across what would become known as Australia. Please see the AIATSIS Map to see Australia’s First Nations and Torres Strait people in what became Australia: https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia These were separate and distinct nations with their own cultural mores’ governance and lore.

Using 'First Peoples' and ‘First Nations’ is often best practice rather than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Where the nation of the people is known, then it should be preferred, for example Ngunnawal people. This respect for diversity extends to ‘First Nations’ ‘histories,’ ‘perspectives,’ ‘ways of being’ and ‘contributions’. These should also be pluralised.

When using the terms ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Torres Strait Islander’ then please capitalise in order to demonstrate respect.

Using respectful and inclusive language and terminology is essential to reconciliation. Always seek advice from the First Nations people in your local community on preferences and protocols around respectful language.

You should also capitalise:

Indigenous
First Peoples/Nations/Australians
Elders
Traditional Owners/Custodians
Country or Land (when referring to an area of land, sea and sky associated with a distinct group of people or First Nations community)
particular Language groups or geo-cultural communities
Acknowledgement of Country, Welcome to Country, and the names of other cultural practices (particularly when the meanings or perspectives behind the words – such as ‘acknowledge’ or ‘welcome’ – are distinct in their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural context).

You do not need to capitalise ‘reconciliation,’ unless naming Reconciliation Australia as an organisation or referring to a formal program or document, like your Reconciliation Action Plan.