Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Bill 2023 is a really important bill before the House. Australia, of course, is facing a skills crisis that requires urgent action—this is something which has been quite well ventilated.

Before I begin speaking about the bill, I just want to remark on some of the comments that were made by the previous speaker. I want to invite the previous speaker to reflect on the fact that comments made about union members were highly disrespectful to the carers, teachers and frontline workers who kept this country going during the pandemic. Earlier today we heard about the bill on the aged-care sector, and I note that there were platitudes made by those opposite about the importance of the work that carers in the aged-care sector do. I would remark that those workers are more often than not union members, and that they deserve respect and better than the comments made about them this morning.

Our government respects workers. That's why we've introduced an amendment that would establish Jobs and Skills Australia as a statutory body to address the skills crisis, to really ensure that we're able to work in partnership with the state and territory governments, business, industry leaders, unions and education and training providers to build the skilled workforce that Australia needs for the future. Jobs and Skills Australia was established as an interim body in November 2022, and has begun the important work of providing independent advice on a range of workforce skills and training issues.

One of the very first things our government did upon our election was to hold the Jobs and Skills Summit here in Canberra. I too, in my electorate of Chisholm, held a jobs and skills forum, and I wrote to the Treasurer about our local discussions as he was coordinating that process. It was a really wonderful opportunity to bring together so many different parts of my community to talk about what we could do collectively to address the skills crisis and create better jobs for people in Australia.

To ensure that stakeholders views were considered in the design of the permanent Jobs and Skills Australia structure, the legislation has been introduced in two phases. We're now introducing this amendment bill to establish the ongoing governance, structure and functions of Jobs and Skills Australia. This bill will support the expanded and clarified functions and governance model of Jobs and Skills Australia. This has been informed by significant stakeholder engagement through the Jobs and Skills Summit that I have mentioned already, the Senate committee inquiry into the first bill, a discussion paper seeking public comment and bilateral and other targeted engagement. Ours is a consultative government.

The current skills and labour market issues facing Australia are significant. The country has the second-highest labour supply shortages across all OECD countries. A staggering three million Australians lack the fundamental skills required to participate in training and secure work. An estimated nine out of 10 new jobs will require postsecondary school education, with four of these requiring VET qualifications. We are doing a lot in the space of vocational education and training as a government with the introduction of fee-free TAFE.

As a nation, we're experiencing skills shortages across many critical industries, with the top 20 occupations in demand showing seven with a shortage driven by a lack of people with the required skills, reinforcing the importance of our skills system in addressing these shortages. We know the labour market remains tight, with unemployment expected to remain low for the short term. The tightness is causing challenges for our labour market and for employers. In December of last year, the recruitment difficulty rate for occupations were sitting at 65 per cent. That means that 65 per cent of recruiting employers reported experiencing difficulty hiring staff in their most recent recruitment round. Many of the vital industries that rely on VET graduates are facing workforce shortages, and this has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and a related reduction in migration.

Our government understands that urgent action is needed to address skills shortages and to manage participation with the type of skills in demand now and in the future. That's why we are introducing this amendment. The proposed permanent Jobs and Skills Australia will take on a broader range of functions. This will including identifying labour market imbalances, analysing the role played by the demand and supply of skills, building an evidence base of the impact of various workplace arrangements, including insecure work, on economic and social outcomes. It will analyse workforce and skills needs to support decision-making in relation to Australia's migration program and in regional development. It will provide tripartite advice to the government to ensure Australia's training and broader education systems deliver the skilled workers that industry needs.

Our government is, of course, absolutely committed to investment in vocational education and training to address skills shortages in Australia. In the October budget, we allocated $6.3 billion for VET, which is $451 million higher than estimated in the March budget of last year. This funding includes 180,000 new fee-free TAFE and vocational education places in 2023. That is part of a larger investment of $921.7 million over five years to strengthen Australia's VET system and address skills shortages. It remains a source of pride to me and my community that the first visit that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took to Melbourne post the election was to my electorate of Chisholm and specifically to the Drummond Street campus of Holmesglen TAFE, home to the Victorian Tunnelling Centre. I enjoy frequent visits to the TAFEs in my electorate, and I am so thrilled to be part of a government that is doing all we can to support the vocational education sector.

Our government is providing funding transfers of $2.3 billion to state and territory governments to support their skills systems in the 2022-23 financial year, and that is more investment than the previous government made. Jobs and Skills Australia will provide independent advice to address skills shortages, including by conducting a clean energy capacity study and a national study on adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy skills. Immediate actions include the delivery of around 180 fee-free TAFE places, as mentioned, and those are in the areas of highest skills need. That includes converting existing government funded places to fee-free places. There will be new places and specific aged-care places from the previous JobTrainer announcement as well.

We have a long-term plan for skills and for good secure jobs. We are going to continue our work in collaboration with the states and territories to deliver a new five-year National Skills Agreement in accordance with the vision and guiding principles agreed by skills ministers and endorsed by National Cabinet in August of last year. The establishment of Jobs and Skills Australia is a critical step towards addressing Australia's skills crisis, and this amendment will provide the necessary resources and support to ensure that Australia can build a skilled workforce for the future—a better future for all. I urge all members of the House to support this amendment.

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