Advocacy

June 10, 2025

The human factor

What’s the difference between industry and community?

In the past I would have said that the first is a supply chain of businesses that provide goods and services, the second is about people and place.

My recent visit to Tasmania challenged this idea.

The purpose of the visit was to test the appetite for licensing of air conditioning and refrigeration trades. Tasmania has dedicated licences for plumbers and for electricians, but not for HVAC&R technicians. Should such a licence exist?

Many would like HVAC&R to be recognised as a trade of its own, and this would align with other jurisdictions. The regulator in Tasmania is open to the idea, but also wants to be sure that industry is on board, especially because previous proposals have been met with pushback. AIRAH organised two meetings – one in Hobart and one in Launceston – to gauge people’s attitudes.

I say that AIRAH organised the meetings, and Ben Kuiper, our Division Committee associate director, did a power of work ahead of the events. But they would not have happened, and certainly wouldn’t have been successful, without support from many others.

HVAC&R veterans Chris Wright and Kerry Haywood stepped up as presenters, sharing decades of experience and their knowledge of Tasmania’s licensing history.

Chris brought a cool, considered approach; Kerry brought the fire. When he stood up in front of a packed room at the Hobart event, you could see this was a cause that drove him. With a long career and a successful business behind him, he could have been sitting comfortably at home with a beer. But he wanted to share his story and help an industry that he says has given him so much over the years. For Kerry, licensing for refrigeration and air conditioning is essential.

“If all the trades on Earth died tomorrow, and only a fridgie was left standing, they could get the world going again,” he said, to smiles and nods.

Pride. It didn’t just come through in his words – you could see it in every fibre of his being. And you could feel it in the room. When you spend your life working at something and refining your skills, you feel attached to it.

I think of wholesalers primarily as businesses that sell products to fridgies. But competing wholesalers sponsored and promoted the two meetings. They didn’t ask for banners to be put up to boost sales – they were doing it for the industry.

Then there were the people from Tasmanian HVAC&R companies big and small, almost 100 in all. They were people from diverse businesses, with different perspectives, committed to tackling a problem. The overwhelming majority were in favour of licensing for HVAC&R.

That “output” from the meetings is important, especially as we continue conversations with the regulator in Tasmania. But the biggest takeaway for me was the spirit.

It’s a powerful reminder that as much as HVAC&R is about mechanical systems and the business that work on them, it is built on community, on people. Having had the privilege of working closely with many of our volunteer members, I know that. And although most of the AIRAH team don’t have engineering backgrounds, we all recognise your passion, and we carry a respect for that into our work.

Call it industry or call it community, in many ways they are one and the same.