Aged Services IRC

On 13 March 2018, the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) announced that it was establishing an Aged Services Industry Reference Committee (IRC) to strengthen industry leadership in education and training for the aged care sector.  

The Aged Services IRC will assist in responding to findings from the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce, with a focus on a range of strategic actions to grow and sustain an agile and enabled aged services workforce that can provide safe and quality care to older Australians in a variety of settings. This includes ensuring that the national training system and higher education can address both current and future competencies and skill requirements for new workers entering the sector and existing staff needing to upskill.

The Aged Services IRC is responsible for:

• reforming national training package qualifications and skill sets needed by the aged services industry;
• examining new approaches to career structuring and progression in the sector, and the education pathways needed to support these;
• scoping opportunities for collaboration across vocational education and training (VET), higher education and a range of industry sectors to tackle the challenges of an ageing society; and 
• working with other IRCs which have an interest in qualifications relevant to the aged services sector to ensure industry needs are considered and met.

Given the high-level of interest and engagement, and the complexity of the reforms to be progressed, the IRC will establish a number of 'specific interest' advisory committees to provide high-level strategic and policy advice to support its work. See below for more details.

Further information about the role of IRCs and how they operate can be found in the IRC Operating Framework.



Membership and Structure

Category	Organisation or area of expertise	Member	State/ Territory
Skills and competencies/ profession based organisations	Australian Association of Gerontology	Associate Professor Christine Stirling (University of Tasmania)	TAS
	Australian College of Nursing	Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward	ACT
	Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)	Dr Denise Ruth	VIC
	Allied Health Professionals Australia (AHPA)	Mr Tim Henwood (Southern Cross Care)	SA
	Occupational Therapy Australia (OTA)	Ms Anita Volket	VIC
	Palliative Care Australia	Professor Patsy Yates (Queensland  University of Technology)	QLD
	Dementia Australia	Dr David Sykes (Centre for Dementia Learning)	VIC
	Mental Health expertise	Professor Kim Ryan (Australian College of Mental Health Nurses)	ACT
	Assistive Technologies expertise	Ms Robyn Chapman (Assistive  Technology Australia)	NSW
	COTA Australia	Mr Ian Yates	ACT
	Carers Australia	Ms Jayne Ryan	QLD
Employer representatives and peak bodies	Leading Aged Services Australia (LASA)	Mr Ian Hardy AM (Helping Hand Aged Care)	SA
	Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA)	Mr Mark Sewell (Warrigal Care)	NSW
	Aged Care Guild	Mr Ross Johnston (Regis Aged Care)	VIC
	Representative from Industry Accord on the remote aged care workforce	Mr Chris Hall AM (Juniper)	WA
	Independent/ aligned aged care services provider	Ms Sonya Smart (Villa Maria Catholic Homes)	VIC
Employee representatives	Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation (ANMF)	Mr Robert Bonner	SA
	United Voice	Ms Melissa Coad	NSW
	Health Services Union (HSU)	Mr Rob Sheey	NSW
Education and training	Universities Australia	Ms Rachel Yates	ACT
	TAFE Directors Australia	Ms Mish Eatman (Swinburne University)	VIC
Total	21 members


Aged Services Advisory Committees

The following ‘specific interest’ advisory committees will be established to support the work of the Aged Services IRC by providing high-level strategic and policy advice. Each committee will comprise 6-8 members, with both allocated and open positions.

SkillsIQ is managing the nominations for these committees. For more information, including registering your interest in participating in an advisory committee, please fill in your details by completing this online form.

Advisory Committee	Details
Consumer Needs and Expectations	Consumer advocacy groups and individuals.
Residential Care	Peaks, associations, others with a focus on acute (hospital) and/or residential care, industry/employer representatives; may also include food services representatives.
Home Care and Community Care	Peaks, associations, others with a focus on home care and community care, industry/employer representatives.
Indigenous and Remote Services	Employers, employees and other stakeholders representing Indigenous and remote interests.
Diversity and Inclusion	Employers, employees and other stakeholders representing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD); lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI); disability; homeless and disadvantaged; and other diversity group interests.
Dementia	Peaks, associations, industry/employers, others with a focus on dementia.
Palliative Care	Peaks, associations, industry/employers, others with a focus on palliative care.
Mental Health	Peaks, associations, industry/employers, others with a focus on mental health.
Pathways and Tertiary Education	Registered training organisations (including peak bodies), universities, others as appropriate.
Nutrition and the Mealtime Experience	Peaks, associations, industry/employers, others with a focus on the nutritional needs of older Australians.