Reversing the brain drain in regulatory roles

By Mel MacDonald Superintendent | Program Development Faculty, ABF College, Australian Border Force

ABF Trade Training Pathway. Right training at the right time for the right officers

The Australian Border Force (ABF) may be young by definition, but is steeped in history thanks to the legacy of the Australian Customs Service and Department of Immigration.

Over the past eight years, the ABF has faced many challenges including an aging workforce, staff movements, retirements, COVID-19 and emerging government priorities. All of these challenges have the potential to increase Departmental risks and reduce output and outcomes. 

As the learning authority for the ABF, the ABF College (College) has been instrumental in providing the operational workforce with the relevant knowledge and skills to do their jobs competently in a regulatory environment.

The College identified that the retirement of long-term officers would have a significant impact on corporate knowledge and skills, trainer numbers and senior APS level staff especially in the trade, customs and migration specialised roles. This was compounded when COVID-19 hit our shores and officers had to be redeployed from aviation roles to customs and cargo roles with many having limited or historical experience. A lack of currency had the potential to reduce the Government’s revenue, increase risk of prohibited items entering the country and affect the Department’s reputation.

Instructor led training had to be reimagined to support the upskill of officers in an environment where trainers and officers couldn’t travel for training, WHS restrictions were placed on the workplace and officers were working considerable hours.

To address this, a trade training continuum project was established and the College made knowledge management a targeted priority. The learning pathway was determined through a training needs analysis using learning data, output metrics and substantial stakeholder engagement. The result being a mixture of self-paced eLearning, instructor led training with the potential for credit towards university qualifications.

The first module, Introduction to Trade eLearning is available to all officers across the Department, also supporting Home Affairs functions intersecting with the ABF. Working in a tiered approach, the next self-directed eLearn modules were topic specific, for example Tariff, Origin and Valuation. These are followed by instructor led learning to dive into the complexities of the subject that could not be easily derived through eLearning. The continuum provides an officer with new skills and knowledge or reinforcement of existing skills and knowledge ensuring consistency, accuracy, compliance with regulations and policy.

Supporting officers learning outside of the College, a partnership with a higher education institution was established to support officers undertake Diploma and Advanced Diploma qualifications in Trade and Customs fields.

Introduction to trade, eLearning splash screen. ABF College, The purpose of this course is to provide officers with an introduction to the Australian Border Force’s (ABF) Customs and Trade functions.