Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on the Albanese Labor government's recent Jobs and Skills Summit, held here in Parliament House, Canberra. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we are meeting on, the Ngunnawal people. I also pay respects to the Wadjuk people of the Noongar nation, the traditional custodians of my electorate in Perth. Throughout the period of the federal election, it was clear to see that Australians want their government to focus on building a better future, to focus on the best interests of our communities. We held our incredibly successful Jobs and Skills Summit last week, after 100 days in government, and this summit was all about one thing: bringing people together to confront the big challenges in our economy and also in our society.

We know that there is a genuine priority for some real movement and real discussions about our economic challenges. That is why there were over 100 workshops in Parliament House during the summit, in addition to many roundtables and consultations conducted around Australia in the lead-up to the federal summit. This summit exceeded everyone's expectations and gave us solid, secure and tangible outcomes to make the lives of all Australians better.

Working with industry, unions and other stakeholders at the summit, the Albanese government has agreed to 36 immediate initiatives, including but not limited to: $1 billion in joint federal-state funding for fee-free TAFE in 2023, plus an additional 180,000 places; a one-off income credit so age pensioners who want to work can earn an additional $4,000 over this financial year without losing any of their pension; more flexibility using $575 million in the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to invest in social and affordable housing and attract financing from superannuation funds and other sources of private capital; modernising Australia's workplace relations laws, including making bargaining accessible for all workers and businesses; amending the Fair Work Act to strengthen access to flexible working arrangements, make unpaid parental leave more flexible and strengthen protection for workers against discrimination and harassment; improving access to jobs and training pathways for women, First Nations people, regional Australians, and culturally and linguistically diverse people, including equity targets for training places; 1,000 digital apprenticeships in the Australian Public Service, and other measures to reduce barriers to employment; an increase in the permanent migration program ceiling to 195,000 in 2022-23, to help ease widespread critical workforce shortages; extending visas and relaxing work restrictions on international students to strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour; and providing additional funding to resolve the visa backlog. All the ideas put forward will be explored over the next 12 months as part of the employment white paper, with the terms of reference to be released later this month. We are making real change.

Locally, in my seat of Pearce, I felt it important to give my community a voice and input into this historic summit. That is why I, and many other Labor MPs and senators, held our own jobs and skills roundtables to directly feed into the federal summit, to give our local communities an opportunity to have that strong, reliable voice. At our local roundtable, I invited a plethora of community leaders, representatives and spokespeople, including representatives from our First Nations community, TAFE, university, small-business owners, farmers, growers, state government members, local government representatives, local business representatives, cultural leaders and manufacturers. We are fortunate in Pearce to have a pool of extremely talented, intellectual and well-respected leaders. It would be a grave oversight to not engage these particular members of our community at this time. Our roundtable achieved five main outcomes which, in turn, informed the Albanese government federal summit, with some issues being directly mirrored across the country and subsequently actioned at the federal summit.

These include, No. 1, visa and immigration processing. A, our local Trans Aus farm representative stated that the current visa-processing times and immigration barriers, especially over COVID-19, have hindered their staffing levels. B, sectors such as farming rely heavily on overseas workers to provide support and manual labour to their businesses. C, Western Australia is a great host for skilled and unskilled labour; as such, it is imperative that these workers are provided with a simple yet effective immigration process.

No. 2 was a focus on the type of working visas. A, some employees are just looking to come to Australia for a short period of time, but the benchmarks are high in terms of English language, skills and financial requirements. B, industries such as hospitality and farming rely on overseas employees. Benara Nurseries, in Pearce, predominantly hire people on a part-time or permanent basis. However, most backpackers opt to work casually and leave after a short period of time. For these specific industries, this means that business owners are unable to invest in training.

No. 3 was about the ability to complete CVs and job applications. We are a multicultural community in Australia, and, in Pearce, 41 per cent of our community were born overseas. We are home to some extremely motivated and intelligent people, but English may not be their first language. As such, these people need help in preparing resumes, and also support to complete relevant documentation.

No. 4 was about engaging the untapped potential of our youth. We have a wonderful First Nations community in Pearce, but we must understand that they also need support. If young people are not engaging in school, there may be ways that we as a community can help them to succeed. It is important that young people have the skills they need to seek employment. But, further, if young people are employed in ongoing work but cannot see a clear pathway to grow, then they may defer their attention elsewhere. Getting these conversations going is important, and I'm extremely proud that this particular group of young people were well represented at my roundtable.

Measuring and understanding productivity was another point. Questions were asked about the way in which we measure productivity and how this has changed over the pandemic. Are we adapting the way we view and measure productivity in the workforce as the world changes?

All of these points raised were met with incredibly respectful and interested discussions, with some points being presented with possible solutions from other representatives within the group. It is imperative that these discussions do continue, and, while we know our skills summit has many great outcomes for our country, we also know that the hard work starts now.

I will continue to meet with these groups and engage the Pearce community, and I look forward to experiencing and applauding the progressive and positive change as a result of these much-needed, important discussions. I'm mindful that the people who were around the table at our local summit are incredibly busy people. They took the time to make sure that we had informed advice based on experience, knowledge and wisdom. I absolutely applaud them for spending that time with us and sharing that knowledge, and I'm hoping, like they hope, to achieve a better outcome for our community and for Australia.