Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Opportunity' and 'potential' were two of the key terms raised in the discussion at the first Boothby jobs and skills roundtable last week at Marion. I was delighted to welcome leaders from all sectors of Boothby society. There were business leaders from Advanced Manufacturing at the Tonsley Innovation District seated with charity officials. There were local government representatives, two mayors and a council CEO together with arts industry executives, small-business owners and trade union officials. All of these people came together to discuss the shared challenges facing the people and businesses of Boothby with regard to employment and skills.

A few themes that emerged from the roundtable that I took back to Canberra were skills shortages; low wages; poor conditions in key feminised sectors of the economy, notably the care sectors; inconsistent quality and availability of training and education, coupled with financial and bureaucratic barriers to upskilling. For instance, the lack of availability of after-hours training options was identified as a barrier, particularly for workers wanting to upskill or retrain or those who had caring duties at home. The spread of insecure work makes it even more difficult to develop skills and has significant negative impacts on earnings and conditions.

Microcredentialing was discussed as an excellent way of adapting existing qualified workers into areas of need without the barrier or the time delay of a full qualification or degree. We should look at currently untapped existing workforces among groups such as women at home wanting to return to work, retirees, refugees on various work restricted visa conditions and people with disabilities—all should be explored for the economic and the social benefits to our community and the individuals. These are all areas of ongoing work for me. And I know they are key areas of focus for the Treasurer and the finance minister as they finalise the employment white paper for consultation.

Thank you to all those who took time out of their busy schedules to contribute their often unique perspectives on the jobs and skills environment in Boothby. Some of these events, roundtables, summits and forums are derived as talk fests that achieve nothing. But the Boothby jobs and skills roundtable proved that discussion and a willingness to hear each other and try to understand different perspectives can be a very fruitful endeavour.

Going forward, I hope to host more roundtables like this. In particular, I'd like to hear from businesses and workers about how we can match workers' skills and jobs to build economic activity locally. Our roundtable showed that there is no shortage of goodwill in Boothby, and I'm determined to make the most of that spirit to build a better Boothby for all.