Australian government to fund bike mechanic's training
Posted on in Cycles News
Bicycle Industries Australia (BIA) has announced that the Australian Government has agreed to provide funding for the training of bicycle mechanics in Australia, as reported in bicyclingtrade.com.au.
The funding is coming via the Business Industry Skills Fund managed by the federal Department of Education.
Although the initial amount committed of just under $200,000 is not huge, it's particularly significant for a two reasons.
Firstly this is the first serious direct federal funding of the bicycle industry ever, to my knowledge at least. Apart from some small ad hoc amounts for such things as publishing the National Cycling Strategy and helping with administrative costs for the Australian Bicycle Council, federal governments of both major parties over past decades have ignored the bicycle industry until now.
Secondly, the funding comes at a time when previous state based bicycle mechanics training schemes have all but died through a lack of state government funding of their respective TAFE and other training institutions.
BIA's Executive Office, Peter Bourke was excited to make the announcement. "This has actually been a four year process," he explained. "The money will be spent on funding the training of mechanics for bicycle retailers across Australia, covering approximately 50% to 60% of the cost of training."
In parallel to campaigning for federal funding, BIA has also spent several years building a relationship with the respected UK based bicycle mechanic training organisation, Cytech. The courses to be run here will be using the Cytech curriculum and graduates will receive Cytech qualifications which is already recognised in the UK and other countries where Cytech operates.
The Cytech course will cost $1,500 for two weeks full time training. Thanks to the federal funding, participating shops will only have to pay at most $750, meaning that the funding should subsidise the training of over 200 bicycle mechanics.
"Some shops will pay less," Peter said. "It depends upon their legal status, number of staff and a few other factors."
"We hope to get this underway early in the new financial year. The primary course will be delivered in Melbourne and we will look to expand the availability of courses into other states after that with Queensland being our second target."
The course facilitator has yet to be confirmed. There have been multiple bidders amongst training providers to run the courses in Victoria and a winner will be announced in due course.
Hopefully this funding will be the start of something long term. "We have two financial years to spend the money," Peter said. "If we are successful it is a four year grant process, so we will be able to make further application when the money is expended."
The scheme will only be available to dealers who are already or who become Retail Members of BIA, which costs $300 per year. BIA created a retail membership option after the demise of the former RCTA (Retail Cycle Traders Australia) several years ago.
Any bicycle dealer interested in having their mechanics trained under this scheme should contact BIA at office@bikeoz.com.au