Annual Report 2007-08 - Plumbing Industry Commission

Strengthening skills and
standards
Following the adoption of the national
Plumbing Training Package, plumbing
practitioners in Victoria will now be required
to demonstrate additional competencies in
order to obtain a plumbing licence.
Three core Certificate IV competencies will
now be required in addition to the technical
licence competencies of the relevant
plumbing class. These are:
• Establish business and legal requirements
(BSBSBM401A)
• Estimates and cost work (BCPCM4002A)
• Carry out work-based risk control
processes (BCPCM4001A).
The new requirements will promote a
greater level of professionalism into the
Victorian industry.
The Commission is working hard to ensure
that the enhanced requirements do not
inadvertently restrict the numbers of
Licensed Plumbing Practitioners. To help
achieve this, it has commenced a project
which will provide online training resources
through Victorian plumbing TAFEs.
The online resources are designed to
assist TAFEs to deliver training in the core
competencies and to encourage individuals
to undertake the training.
The project will run for three years and
aims to make the training resources
available in all Victorian plumbing TAFEs by
June 2010. To date, substantial progress has
been made on the business and legal core
competency.
Reciprocal recognition of
plumbers
In 2007–08, the Commission continued
its reciprocal recognition of interstate and
overseas plumbing accreditations under five
main categories.
For overseas plumbing applicants, there
are several changes occurring. Australia
and New Zealand Reciprocity Association
(ANZRA) will not continue beyond 2008,
and its reference material on overseas
qualifications has become less relevant in
recent years. The Coalition of Australian
Governments (COAG) Skills Task Force
has established offshore facilities to
assess potential plumbing migrants at five
points of origin around the globe in the
United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Sri
Lanka and the Philippines. In addition, the
Commission has for the past 12 months
invited potential plumbing migrants
to make an application to determine
eligibility in advance of migrating – and as
far as practicable is providing applicants
with advice of their Victorian plumbing
accreditation eligibility in advance of a final
migration decision.
Victorian trained practitioners who received
reciprocity certificates under the ANZRA
agreement in order to undertake work
in other Australian states or overseas,
declined by 23.2 per cent to 99 certificates.
The National Plumbing Regulators Forum
(NPRF), through its Licensing and Education
Advisory Committee (LEAC) is considering
the future need for a reciprocity certificate.
Adoption of COAG’s mutual recognition
provisions resulted in some applicants
previously considered under ANZRA being
considered under mutual recognition.
Interstate practitioner accreditations
recognised under mutual recognition
provisions increased by 27 per cent to
a total of 47.
New South Wales based practitioners who
are reciprocally licensed and registered
in Victoria increased by 1.8 per cent this
year up to a combined total of 277. The
total number of practitioners holding a
registration declined by 4.2 per cent, while
the number of practitioners holding a
licence increased by 8.3 per cent.
Registration, licensing and
related inquiries
The number of personal inquiries decreased
by 5.9 per cent to 8,463, indicating a
preference for information delivered online.
INDUSTRY RESPONSIBILITY 25