Clinic 88 owners Brad and Renee Hiskins: the workforce will dry up. Photo: Clinic 88.
Canberra Institute of Technology’s nation-leading remedial massage offering is in limbo as the CIT weighs a decision on its future.
But industry figures fear a cash-strapped CIT has already made up its mind to axe massage after 35 years, claiming it is no longer viable, despite strong demand across the region for practitioners and services, and being on the ACT skills shortage list.
They say the 12-month diploma course is one of dozens of courses being reviewed, with CIT looking for $20 million in savings a year.
In June, CIT denied it was looking to cut courses and staff when Region questioned it over an academic staff letter concerned about a blow-out in the size of the executive team amid ongoing budget pressures.
Clinic 88 director Brad Hiskins, who demanded face-to-face meetings with CIT executives, told Region the course had been unavailable to prospective students since August 2024, when CIT failed a Registered Training Organisation audit, mainly for a failure to communicate with industry, he said.
“We got wind that no students were able to start the course because we had a lot of people come through our clinic and say I’d love to do this, and then CIT got back saying you can’t apply for this course,” Mr Hiskins said.
He said the three full-time CIT teachers remained on full salary despite there being no classes.
In recent talks, CIT had deliberately set the bar too high to save the diploma course, Mr Hiskins said.
He was told that the course would need to attract a “ludicrous” 168 students a year, at $7200 per student (or $1.2 million in total), to be viable, when most other providers ran courses with 20 to 30 students.
A CIT executive told him the organisation needed to save $20 million a year and dozens of courses were being reviewed, but a decision would not be made until next year.
Mr Hiskins said scrapping the course would put businesses at risk and result in much-needed services being wound back.
He said clinics such as his were already struggling to find staff at the same time as demand was increasing.
“If they do cut this course, it means that the profession has nothing between Sydney and Albury,” Mr Hiskins said.
“In the last 21 years, we’ve hired over 90 people from CIT directly. Currently, we’ve got about 30 in our practice.”
Mr Hiskins said the skills gap would mean services such as lymphedema treatment on referral from oncology wards and chronic pain management, including to aged care facilities, would not be able to be maintained.
He said the industry dealt with an array of medical conditions and had received support from across the health sector.
Many businesses, from pain management to physio, osteo and chiropractic clinics, and the ACT’s major sporting teams, all relied on CIT graduates.
He said it was not feasible to recruit enough practitioners from Sydney or Melbourne to meet demand.
“Clinics need 60, 70 people now because the course hasn’t run since August last year,” Mr Hiskins said.
“There are people all over Canberra crying out for employees.”
Therapy Masters owner Lisa LaMaitre: The health system will suffer. Photo: Therapy Masters.
Therapy Masters owner and well-known Canberra businesswoman Lisa LaMaitre still sits on the CIT industry panel and has taught at CIT.
Ms LaMaitre said CIT and RMIT in Melbourne were one of two places in Australia to study if you wanted to be at the top of the profession.
She said the course attracted people to Canberra who stayed and often built businesses.
“The Canberra massage industry is basically screaming at CIT that we want you to retain this course,” she said.
“We need this course. We need more graduates.”
But CIT and Skills, Training and Industrial Relations Minister Michael Pettersson weren’t listening.
Ms LaMaitre sat on the technical advisory committee that updated the massage program, including two new cutting-edge pain science units that should have been rolled out this year.
The response from CIT was that it was looking at whether it met industry standards.
“It does. It’s brand new,” she said.
Ms LaMaitre added that CIT could actually boost revenue by increasing the out-of-date fee for student massages instead of undermining the value of the profession, or introducing postgraduate courses for practitioners to update their skills.
It could also change its centralised marketing strategy, which did not promote individual courses, to attract more students.
The loss of a Canberra course would see practices closed and an increased burden of care placed on the ACT Health system, Ms LaMaitre said.
She noted that other private providers did not deliver the same course standard as CIT.
Clinic 88 patient Fiona Johnstone has spina bifida, complex conditions and uses a wheelchair, but her soft tissue therapy allows her to live a full life.
“This is really dealing with the immediate issue at hand, and being able to help me maximise my daily living, reduce pain, maximise function, and also complement the physio,” Ms Johnstone said.
She said not having that kind of unique service in Canberra would be a significant loss for the entire community.
“It’s just unfathomable that this could even be considered by CIT,” Ms Johnstone said.
“It just shows a real ignorance of the service that’s being provided, particularly within the Canberra region.”
As a former chief financial officer, Ms Johnstone said CIT should be cutting operational costs, not courses such as this.
“Definitely look at efficiencies, and how this is being delivered, but to remove it completely would just be incredibly ignorant and a really short-term measure,” she said.
If the course were cut, there would not be any succession planning for current therapists, and in the future, her treatment would be significantly impacted and her condition would deteriorate, Ms Johnstone said.
CIT did not respond specifically to a list of questions on its savings target, the number of courses under review and the massage diploma course, but issued a statement.
It stated that CIT regularly reviewed its courses to ensure alignment with skills needs and priorities, student preferences and industry requirements.
It said any change to a CIT field of study must be approved by the board and by the minister, and claims that CIT was ceasing massage courses were incorrect.
It added that industry consultation was being undertaken regarding massage course offerings at CIT, and CIT was not the only provider in the ACT that taught massage courses.
