20th August 2027

Earlier this year the AMA responded to the ABS consultation on its update to occupation codes (OSCA), focusing on Musical Instrument Makers and Repairers. Until now there has been one ‘specialisation’ within this occupation (‘Piano tuner’), we have recommended improving the clarity around what this code includes.

The proposed update changes Piano Tuner to Piano Technician, and adds a specialisation of Guitar Technician. We supported both changes and proposed also adding ‘Brass and Woodwind Instrument Repair Technician’ and Luthier.

Neither of these additional specialisations have been included in the draft classification released this week. However, the ABS has confirmed they are still considering this proposal. The ABS uses census data as one if its indicators of the number of professionals in a category, 50 is enough to justify a specialisation and they may have that figure for Luthier but not Brass & Woodwind Instrument Repair Technician.

The moral of the story is that we need data, we need to be persistent in advocating for even small and relatively inconsequential changes to the classifications and policy settings, and filling out your census for accurately does actually matter.