Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to be part of the jobs debate we are having here today. It is a sensible debate because the issue we are discussing is one of the most important and significant issues that this parliament has to discuss and will continue to discuss in the future. Jobs are our future and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can to set ourselves up for a future that is strong and that is prosperous, and that we are looking after future generations and making sure that they have the opportunity they deserve to go into worthwhile, rewarding employment.

When talking about jobs we really have to assess where we are, look at the jobs of today and see whether we can make some predictions about what the jobs of the future might be. Clearly that is very difficult—it involves quite a bit of crystal ball gazing because, if you take yourselves back about 10 years and you look forward to today, who would have thought back then that if you were going to put product onto the market you would be consulting with someone who could design an app for you, who could do search engine optimisation? It would have been impossible to determine that at that point in time. As we stand here now and we try and determine what the jobs of the future are, we can only look at not just past behaviour but also what is happening in the technology space—because that is where the development is going to be into the future. We know from a recent PwC report that it is estimated that 5.1 million jobs—44 per cent of current Australian jobs—are at risk from digital disruption over the next 20 years. That will be a massive impact on jobs here in Australia. This gives us an opportunity that we can take, that we can pick up and run with. We know that digital disruption is already happening; we know that it is going to continue to happen. We need to get on board and look at what the skills are that we will need for the jobs of the future. Clearly I am delighted that we are having such strong discussions at the moment about STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths; they are definitely the skills that we need for the future. International research is telling us that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations now require STEM skills or knowledge. This is clearly a key area for us and one that we must develop. PwC estimate that if we could convince just one in 100 people to shift into stem roles, this could increase our GDP by $57.4 billion over 20 years. So we know that we must be working in this area.

I think we all recognise, particularly everyone here in the House at the moment, that we have to become productive, we have to look at our modern economies, we have to look at joining business, scientists, educators and policymakers together so that we can make STEM a priority and work our way forward into the jobs of the future. We are committed to a coordinated approach to STEM from the government and to making sure that we work together to ensure the prosperity and the competitiveness that this country so desperately needs.

In my role as a the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science, over the last few months I have taken a very active role in STEM. I am fully aware that this is a complex problem. It is not a problem that has just one simple magical solution. It is important that we actually do the work to determine the problem. As I said, it is very complex. One of the key things we have to do is look at how we are going to influence students to willingly take on study in STEM subjects—and that is probably through influencing the key influencers. One of those key influencers is certainly the teachers—so we know that we need to do some work with teachers. We also need to influence the career advisers to make sure they are aware of the jobs for the future so that they can steer the students into the right paths. We know that we have to influence the principals because they are the ones out there promoting their students, their academic results. We do not want them encouraging their students to take an easy course simply because that will give them the best possible ATAR and OP. And we need to influence the parents because they are the ones at home with these kids encouraging them to get the best possible score to set themselves well for a tertiary education. So we have to make sure that we are making progress in influencing the influencers. That is step 1 in resolving this issue.

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