Royce Turner, former President of ArbWest, and new Board Member of Arb Australia is on a mission.
“We want to make people aware that there is an exciting green collar career available, in addition to white and blue collar jobs,” he said. “In order to give young people this option, we are developing a new Cert II in Arboriculture, allowing students to choose this career path as early as Year 11 and 12.
We are looking to introduce a VET program in schools, so the students who might be looking at educations like plumbing or electrotechnology can see that there is a green collar option too,” he said. “Young people need this, they love being outdoors, climbing trees and doing good for the environment.”
In Melbourne, Royce Turner and Joe Carriera have been representing ArbWest on the National Strategy Committee, and they have updated the committee on their work in order to gain support to push this initiative through the Department of Education.
“We have already achieved a great milestone in making Arboriculture a recognised Trade through apprenticeships,” said ArbWest committee member Jolyon Elliott.
“The Arboriculture Trade has now been recognised in some other states including SA and QLD, and there is no reason why it can’t be rolled out nationally,” he said. “We are hoping that NSW and VIC will be next.”
Pictures: Royce Turner with tree climber Riki Peterson (left), as well as an action photo from the recent Tree Climbing Championships in Perth.
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