Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Hume on his chairmanship of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry inquiry and on bringing together the committee’s report Skills: rural Australia’s need. I am pleased to speak to the tabling of this report and, in doing so, draw attention to the skills needs of rural Australia. As a member of this parliament who represents the largest rural electorate in Tasmania, I am well aware of the importance of this issue. The recommendations in this report are broad in their range but also concise in their focus—and they need to be. In most cases, the needs of rural Australia are peculiar to particular regions and, therefore, the plan to address those needs should also be specific.

The committee received 117 submissions from government, peak bodies and individuals. There were also 22 public hearings, through which we received further submissions. The recommendations in the committee’s report are listed under five categories: rural skills—a critical issue; rural skills education and training; regulatory framework for VET; the availability and adequacy of research; and provision of extension and advisory services.

A skilled rural workforce is critical to our economic future. Rural industries, like most industries—if not, in fact, all industries—are facing a skills shortage and a skills gap. There are difficulties in attracting and retaining skilled workers and, in addition to this, the agriculture workforce in this country is older than the Australian workforce in general. Perhaps one of the most important issues is the need to collect comprehensive and consistent national data, in order to address the skills shortage.

The committee is concerned that the current allocation of government resources is neither sufficient nor appropriately targeted, due to inadequate data collection and analysis. That is why it has recommended that the Australian government consult with the states, territories and industry bodies to review and revise the Skills in Demand List survey and that this should be reviewed on an annual basis. It is also important to develop national strategies in a variety of areas—such as promoting the role of agriculture and forestry within Australian society and promoting agriculture and forestry within primary and secondary schools. Again, these initiatives should be developed by the Australian government in conjunction with the state and territory governments.

While the overall number of women working in rural industries has grown, there was a steady decline in the number of young women entering the agricultural workforce from 1971 until 2001. That is one reason that the committee has recommended that the Australian government coordinate programs with the state and territory governments to enhance the role and contribution of women to Australian agriculture and to assist them to participate in rural skills training. Similar strategies should also be developed for older workers.

The Australian government also needs to acknowledge the role of technology in rural areas and in rural enterprises. The committee has recommended the further development of communications services in rural and regional Australia. This includes access to high-speed broadband services for rural and remote communities.

We need to encourage people to work in the rural workforce. We need to show that there is a wide range of career opportunities available within rural industries. We need to ensure that the knowledge of those older workers working in rural industries is passed on to the next generation of rural workers. I commend this report to the House—not just to sit on a shelf but to be implemented. Our rural future is at stake. We need young people to be in training now to deal with the massive changes that are going on in the world today.

I congratulate the staff involved. There were some staff changes during this inquiry and there were difficulties in getting together. I commend them for pulling together and for coming up with this very good report, which I certainly hope both sides of the House will give consideration to in their policy considerations.

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