Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to outline to all Australians that the fact is that one of the biggest threats facing our nation's economic recovery is a shortage of skills—a shortage of skills in the right places. During this global pandemic, businesses cannot rely on building a bigger workforce from overseas or from immigration. These levers can no longer be pulled by government at this time to supply workforces that Australian businesses have historically relied upon.

The Morrison government's economic plan is delivering jobs for Australians and is skilling the next generation of workers. The Job-ready Graduates Package is part of that plan. Australia will bounce back from COVID-19 through developing our country's greatest asset and our greatest resource: our own people. That's why we have seen the development of this government's Job-ready Graduates Package, to ensure more Australians study in the areas that will get them the skills and qualifications to get a job and to have a career and a future in Australia's jobs market.

We recently released the national skills priority list through the National Skills Commission. This is the national picture of jobs in demand today and into the future. Today, over 150 occupations face skill shortages nationally. These are most commonly technicians and trades, followed by professionals; machinery operators and drivers; and managers, as well as community and personal service workers. But we're also seeing huge demand for accountants, auditors and engineers—all areas that our Job-ready Graduates Package is designed to address.

The latest data shows there are more Australians studying at university than ever before. Importantly, more Australians are studying the courses that are likely to get them jobs. Commencements are up. I thank the member for Longman for putting forward this motion and I reiterate the numbers that he outlined: science is up 14 per cent; agriculture is up 14 per cent; IT is up 13 per cent; engineering is up 10 per cent; education is up 11 per cent; and health is up eight per cent. These are all areas of demand in jobs. The Job-ready Graduates Package is creating up to 30,000 additional university places in 2021, up to 100,000 places by 2030, and bringing down the cost of degrees in these key future jobs areas.

Let me outline a few of the areas where degrees have actually come down in cost under this Job-ready Graduates Package: agriculture is down 59 per cent; maths is down 59 per cent; nursing and teaching has gone down 42 per cent; and the cost of a science, engineering or IT degree has gone down 18 per cent. According to universities and tertiary access centres, new commencements are actually up 7.3 per cent. The University of Queensland has offered double the number of places in agriculture. That doesn't agree with what the member for Fenner just outlined in this chamber. Nationally, in 2021, enrolments in science are up 6,200 and enrolments in engineering are up 2,200. The Job-ready Graduates Package is working. For example, ANU has increased enrolments in both science and engineering degrees in 2021. The number of commencing science students increased by 32 per cent, and the number of commencing engineering students increased by 66 per cent, compared to 2020. Nobody can argue that these areas are not areas of demand now and into the decades ahead of us.

This government is investing $903.5 million over four years for more places and more support for more students. In the 2020 budget there was $298.5 million in additional funding for undergraduate places this year. There was $252 million for up to 50,000 additional short-course places and $1 billion to back university research during the pandemic. This government's policies have already seen the youth unemployment rate at the lowest level in 12 years, according to the April 2021 figures. We'll continue to back young Australians to get them into work.

While right now on the Gold Coast we're hurting in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, our best days lie ahead of us. In my electorate of Moncrieff, in the middle of the nation's playground on the Gold Coast, we're seeing a boom in opportunities that will deliver jobs to support our growth and development, as well as our vibrant local economy. But we're also seeing the sorts of shortages the nationals skills priority list has identified. If we're going to realise that future, we're going to need more workers with the right skills and the right education. On the Gold Coast, we need more skilled and trained people to help build the Gold Coast and grow our local economy. That's what this package does.

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