Delivery driving has understandably attracted Australian international students as a cheap outlay option to supplement their living expenses. It has, however, come at a cost to personal safety after a spate of serious road injuries were reported by Victorian international students in 2020.
All consortium members have contributed their specialist expertise to the development of the training program to ensure that international students are well-informed, well-protected, and understand their rights
In partnership with Study Melbourne, Swinburne University, along with a consortium of industry advisers, have developed a training program to help international students better understand what it’s like to be a food delivery driver in Victoria. All consortium members have contributed their specialist expertise to the development of the training program to ensure that international students are well-informed, well-protected, and understand their rights, responsibilities, and obligations in this rapidly growing gig economy.
The full training program is designed to be facilitated by education providers to ensure that their students are supported to understand their legal rights and responsibilities for the safest possible experience.
Project materials are based on workplace legislation, road rules, occupational health and safety and personal welfare and wellbeing information. They have been developed with a focus on providing a responsible and reliable platform for legislation-based information and guidance. The introduction of a podcast for each module topic – where an international student discusses his experiences openly with a facilitator – provides a light but pertinent insight that resonates with international student peers.
Module topics are:
- Personal Safety
- Road Rules
- Work Life Balance
- Work Rights.
The promotional podcasts are publicly available to students and for download by institutions here.
The full training program is designed to be facilitated by education providers to ensure that their students are supported to understand their legal rights and responsibilities for the safest possible experience. Education providers can access the materials from Study Melbourne or the Swinburne International Student Advisory & Support team at [email protected].
There are continuing conversations to potentially translate these materials into commonly-used international student languages. The materials developed have also been designed for other states to modify the training shell to incorporate their own laws and obligations if desired.
The International Student Driver Delivery Training Program was the recipient of the Best Practice Award at the 2021 IEAA Excellence Awards. Watch their story below.