Electrical Connection Winter 2015

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Electrician Gary Johnson, from Laser Electrical Orange, and three apprentices
getting briefed by Wyoming farmer Marianne Spooner.
runaway success, and so another trip
was organised in April, this time with 10
apprentices in tow.
Prior to these trips, the Outback Links
program was predominantly made
up of retirees or ‘grey nomads’ with
generalist skills who wanted to make
connections and give something back
as they travelled around the country.
Outback Links currently has about 1,500
volunteers registered with them. Still, a
dire need for skilled workers prevailed,
as did Frontier Services’ desire to inject
some young blood into the program.
Frontier Services national volunteer
program manager Kate Parsons says:
“Our generalist volunteers provide a
great service, but we felt we needed
to put a succession plan in place
and also bring in some volunteers
with specialist skills to provide more
comprehensive assistance.
“For example, one property had a
broken down tractor that had been
sitting in the middle of a field for
around two years. We’d sent numerous
generalist volunteers to the property,
and while they provided invaluable help
in other areas, they were unable to fix
the tractor. On our April trip an NRMA
mechanic was able to get it running in
around 25 minutes.”
Having operational utes and farming
machinery makes a significant difference
to the lives of the farmers. Kate tells of
one farmer who, with only one working
vehicle, had to work during the night so
his wife could use the ute to drive the
children to school during the day.
The apprentices who signed up for the
program were supervised on site at all
times and with an overwhelming show
of support from organisations such as
National Electrical and Communications
Association (NECA, who provided one
supervisor and three apprentices),
NRMA, Supporting And Linking
Tradeswomen (SALT), TAFE Western
and others - there was no shortage of
supervisors to oversee the work.
Although the tradies and apprentices
would work in trade teams and
move from property to property as
needed, Outback Links wanted to
ensure meaningful connections were
established between the tradies and
farmers, so each team would set up
camp on one property and use that as a
base for the duration of the program.
With approximately 20 farmers in
Lightning Ridge putting their hand
up for help on the next Tradie Trip, it
would seem Outback Links is breaking
down the old stereotypes of hardened
farmers who, while in desperate need,
feel too embarrassed or proud to ask
for help.
“Sometimes up to the very moment
we walked through the front door
we needed ways of dealing with that
problem,” Kate says.
“After the November trip, we had
a local coordinator from a nearby
property who put up her hand to talk to
the farmers. She reassured them and
helped them work out wish lists. They
are so resilient and capable that it does
feel really strange for them to ask for
help, so it was really important to have
a local person on board.”
Plans to continue the program look
promising with the solidification of the
team of sponsors such as NECA, NRMA,
SALT and others.
“We’ve got a few grants in the pipeline
for Queensland so our fingers are
crossed,” says Kate.
“We want to continue our work in
NSW, but because Frontier Services is a
national organisation, we want to focus
help other areas of Australia too.”
The volunteers on the Tradie Trip
have all found the experience really
rewarding and said they’d love to come
back and do it again- hopefully they’ll
get the chance to do that soon.
Outback Links