WHILE the prospect of a severe economic recession in Australia may be increasing, rest assured smart investors like the Oracle from Omaha, Warren Buffett, will take advantage of the cyclic downturn to buy smaller companies. Buffett made $70 billion doing just that for over half a century.
Similarly, in Australia, small iron ore miners are being taken over and in the oil industry, the giant Royal Dutch Shell has just launched a $91 billion takeover bid for the only slightly smaller giant, British Gas, which owns $26 billion of gas assets in Queensland. The resultant industry consolidation means fewer mining and exploration jobs across Australia.
From a Tasmanian perspective, it is easy to put our heads in the sand and say “it’s nothing to do with us” and expect the State Government to focus on short-term measures to address rising unemployment or just fight to keep falling GST revenues.
Perhaps, however, the State Government should be more like Buffett and take a long-term, strategic view. What long-term opportunities for the Tasmanian Government might arise from the downturn in the mining industry?
Four years ago the brightest high school graduates from across the nation competed fiercely to enter mining-related university courses, including earth sciences (geology) and mining engineering, all with strong maths and science components.
With the downturn, these students are now graduating to find the expected lucrative job offers are no longer there.
Simultaneously, high schools complain there are not enough good science and maths teachers, ultimately causing Australia to fall behind other Asian nations, with the number and quality of technology graduates.
Surely it would make sense for the State Government to try to induce unemployed mining graduates into teaching?
Perhaps it is time to consider reintroducing education diplomas for maths, science and engineering graduates …
Impediments would need to be overcome, including the teaching profession’s minimum requirement for a four-year Bachelor of Education degree and national demands for teacher qualification standardisation.
Unemployed mining graduates might consider teaching but what new, impoverished graduate, after just finishing a three- or four-year degree would want to study for another three or four years to do so? One-year education diplomas are no longer offered and have largely been phased out.
Perhaps it is time to consider reintroducing education diplomas for maths, science and engineering graduates, particularly those from the mining industry?
Why not exempt the education diplomas from HECS as an inducement?
Yes, some may turn out to be bad teachers or leave teaching as soon as economic conditions improve but some would be excellent maths and science teachers, remain in the profession and motivate and mentor the next generation of emerging scientists, engineers and technologists.
In arguing the case for lowering the bar to enter the teaching profession for bright, young, mining graduates, I do not, however, seek to devalue four-year teaching degrees for which the profession has fought long and hard to establish and have indeed improved teacher quality.
All of us can remember that teacher or university lecturer who, while brilliant academically, couldn’t teach to save themselves.
Perhaps an answer to this conundrum may be found in the medical profession, who have devised a test (UMAT) for those wanting to study medicine. Surely a similar test could be developed for teacher aptitude, including communication skills and emotional intelligence.
While the benefits from resurrecting the education diplomas outweigh the costs, governments will need to establish them quickly, or not at all. The mining boom may have busted, but who knows when it will boom again?
*Hans Willink is a former Australian Army officer who has stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal and as an Independent candidate for the seat of Denison. He has also contested local government elections.
