Working Groups and Think Tanks
Everything AUSMASA does is industry-led. As a Jobs and Skills Council, we rely on direct, ongoing engagement with employers, peak bodies, unions and training organisations to identify, forecast and respond to workforce and skills challenges across the mining and automotive sectors. The stronger the engagement, the stronger the work that follows.
The activities below reflect that commitment in action.
Industry Working Groups
In April, AUSMASA convened the first meetings of its newly formed Industry Working Groups (IWGs) — one for mining and one for automotive — bringing together experienced operational workers to identify workforce and training challenges and to inform our response. Two groups are now active, each with a focused remit:
- Mining IWG: Technological Advancements in Mining
- Automotive IWG: Electric Vehicles and Alternate Fuels.
Each group has up to 15 members and will meet four times per year.
The IWGs are designed to do more than consult. They give operational voices a direct role in identifying issues, informing training products and ensuring workforce development stays grounded in lived experience, responsive to emerging technologies and aligned with what industry actually needs.
"Our Industry Working Groups have been established to broaden the scope of stakeholder feedback across Australia. A key priority for AUSMASA is to actively listen to the critical training challenges facing our industries, and to explore how we can respond by addressing both current and future skills demands.
We greatly appreciate the time and commitment that members contribute to these groups. Ongoing communication and engagement will be essential to progressing this important work."
Janet Simmons, Manager Industry Engagement, AUSMASA
AUSMASA is currently collating outcomes from the first round of meetings and exploring areas for further action, informed by broader stakeholder feedback. We look forward to continuing the conversation — and translating what we hear into practical outcomes for the mining and automotive industries.
Mine Closure Think Tank
On 25 March, AUSMASA brought together stakeholders from industry, government and academia to examine the roles, responsibilities and emerging skills gaps in mine closure and rehabilitation — an area where getting the workforce response right is critical to long-term environmental, economic and community outcomes.
The session also benefited from the involvement of colleagues from Skills Insights, reflecting the significant overlap across training packages and workforce considerations. Participants brought deep and diverse expertise to the table — unpacking and validating the tasks, skills and underpinning knowledge required for daily operations across supervisory, superintendent and management roles on a mine site.
Discussions focused on WHS management systems, risk management procedures, safety investigations and communication skills, helping confirm the key capabilities required at each level and surfacing a clear challenge: a lack of alignment between some roles, required capabilities and existing training products in this space.
This presents a clear opportunity to strengthen how training and workforce frameworks respond, ensuring they better reflect the complexity and the increased need for suitable skills in mine closure and rehabilitation.
Insights gathered early and tested with industry lead to better outcomes, and this think tank is a strong example of that approach in practice. As a direct next step, outputs from this think tank will contribute to the ongoing joint research project between AUSMASA and CRC TiME to explore and identify mine closure skills gaps in greater depth.
The conversations in sessions like these are central to how AUSMASA works — ensuring that those closest to the challenges help shape the responses. We look forward to sharing more as this important work progresses.