Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Bendigo for his question, because he has been a passionate advocate for his region, his patch of the great Australian economy that is in the Bendigo region. The budget rightly identifies Australia as an economy in transition, and of course if we are to meet the challenge of what that economy in transition means it does require us to look at the initiatives and the funding proposals that help us diversify the economic base. Also it is not just a question of getting the programs in place; it is essential that we get the delivery mode right. And the truth is that the budget also recognises that delivery must recognise the patchwork nature of the economy because it is giving greater emphasis to delivery through the lens of localism through the regions.

As for the programs that are important, in addressing one of the key ingredients as to how we transition an economy, how we drive the economic diversity, it is skills development, because without the skills, without building the skills base, we run into a self-imposed constraint. Accordingly, the budget makes significant commitments to targeted incentives to develop the skills. It does it through the National Workforce Development Fund and it is complemented by significant initiatives that improve participation. It also identifies 16,000 places under the Regional Skilled Migration scheme. But if they are to work properly for the various patches, so if we are to get the patches working properly, we have to have the input at the local level that identifies what their needs are, where they identify what their skill shortages are and what their training needs are. They access these programs by a matching of skills required with skills supplied.

That is why another pleasing dimension of this budget is the extension of the opportunity to local employment coordinators, in conjunction with the regional development network that we have established, to undertake skills audits so that regions themselves can best identify and match. The last time that this was effectively done it was done by a Labor government. It was done by a Labor government with me as the minister for education. That was when we introduced the area consultative committees whose task was to match supply with demand. This was a terribly effective program. When the others inherited office they kept the area consultative committees in name but never utilised them to their full capacity. They sent them off on a regional rorts program. The member for Indi would well remember one of those regional rorts because it was the cheese factory in her electorate that was on the nose, went bust—wasted money. But the truth is that we are going to go back to this successful model. This budget lays the foundation for it. We did it then and we will do it again. It will only happen under the stewardship of a Labor government.

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