Australian Arborist Industry License: information brochure

The development of this licence has been driven by the general demand of the arboriculture industry professionals nationally (including municipalities, state and federal government agencies, private enterprise, construction companies, utilities, arborists and vegetation workers) who are frustrated with the Arboriculture industry being unregulated. This is a national issue with inexpert loppers and toppers cutting and removing healthy and valuable trees, and inexperienced unqualified 'consultants' giving poor advice. In the worst cases, unscrupulous 'consultants' sell out, providing...  [+] Show more

The development of this licence has been driven by the general demand of the arboriculture industry professionals nationally (including municipalities, state and federal government agencies, private enterprise, construction companies, utilities, arborists and vegetation workers) who are frustrated with the Arboriculture industry being unregulated. This is a national issue with inexpert loppers and toppers cutting and removing healthy and valuable trees, and inexperienced unqualified 'consultants' giving poor advice. In the worst cases, unscrupulous 'consultants' sell out, providing biased, unprofessional advice to meet the desired outcomes of land owners and developers. A high percentage of those trees lost or removed by untrained operators and advisors could be maintained for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations, as well as for the conservation and protection of plants, animals and ecosystems throughout Australia. People benefit from trees through improved physical and psychological well-being and, equally, from the environmental benefits of carbon sequestration, cleaner air, the removal of atmospheric pollutants plus improved soil and water management. These values are unnecessarily lost if trees are removed as a result of poor or biased advice.

The licence is being implemented for several reasons: (1) To promote greater public awareness of trained and qualified professionals working in the tree industry; (2) To ensure tree work and advice is completed in accordance with all relevant Australian and international standards; (3) To establish a self-regulating process to drive the industry towards government regulation of the industry, which will have the additional benefits of: (a) Bringing a wage structure to the industry that ensures all individuals employed are paid an appropriate minimum wage, (b) Create better apprenticeship opportunities and funding for training, and (c) Removing from the industry those people who are not acting in a professionally responsible manner; (4) To ensure the arborist being engaged has a Construction Induction Card; and (5) To confirm that the arborist being engaged for consultancy or tree work has had their qualifications vetted by an impartial professional third party. An additional key factor is the arboriculture and vegetation management industry currently has one of the highest accident rates of any work sector in Australia. It is imperative Arboriculture Australia and its membership ensure everyone who arrives at work each day returns safely home to their family each evening without major injury or deaths occurring.

The key criteria of the licence are: (1) A licence holder must hold an Australian qualification under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF); (2) A licence holder must have a current Construction Induction Card; (3) A licence holder must adhere to the licence Code of Ethics; and (4) A licence holder, if trained and AQF certified to work above ground, will be shown as EWP (high-risk licence) or Tree Climber.

Edited excerpts from publication.