Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying before, there have been some key figures in the higher education sector who have come out in opposition to the scrapping of the AWPA, as proposed in the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency Repeal Bill 2014. Leesa Wheelahan, who is associate professor at the LH Martin Institute for Tertiary Education Leadership and Management at the University of Melbourne, said:

There is now no source of independent advice to government, no way of questioning policy and no research on what Australia needs in the future.

There are others as well who have come out against the abolition of this key body. The current chairman of the AWPA, Philip Bullock, said while confirming the agency's 'disestablishment'—his words:

There are few times in our working lives where we contribute in an area which has the potential to positively impact so many people and for this opportunity we remain grateful.

I think Mr Bullock is right that real people have brighter career prospects as a result of the work that the AWPA has done, and this makes it all the more disappointing that the agency is to be abolished. We are moving these amendments to see that the advice and the analysis is still provided.

Today the opposition is calling on the government to guarantee that independent advice on workforce and productivity issues will continue to be provided and continue to be made publicly available. This advice is much needed. It is crucial to assist government, industry and the education sector to develop the human capital required to create the jobs of the future, in the economy of the future. We are seeking this assurance from the government because the signs so far about workforce issues from this government have not been encouraging, whether it is this abolition of the AWPA; whether it is the abandonment of the Asian Century White Paper, which has been abolished not only from the departmental website but also from the approach and strategy of the government when it comes to the sorts of jobs that we want to be creating in the Asian Century; whether it is the deregulation of university fees, which will make it all the more difficult for young people to undertake meaningful training; whether it is the government's harsh cuts to welfare for young people, their attacks on Medicare, their defunding of future trades training centres, their $30 billion cut to schools, their cuts to Youth Connections, their broken promise on Gonski funding—all of these sorts of things. The cumulative effect of all of these unwise and unfair cuts will be a less skilled, less productive and less dynamic workforce in the future.

It will, unfortunately, risk us missing out on the huge opportunities that are just around the corner for Australia as part of the Asian century. We are witnessing an unprecedented transition in our region and our engagement with Asia has never been more important. The rise of the middle class in Asia will be the most important economic phenomenon of our time. Asia will soon become not only the world's largest producer of goods and services; it will also be the world's largest consumer of them. Australia is perfectly placed to take advantage of the monumental changes underway in our region, but only if we get our workforce right—only if we sort out our human capital and we give our people the best chance to succeed. We need to invest in the tools of success necessary for our young people to succeed right through their working lives. As the authors of the Asian century white paper put it, the tyranny of distance to Europe is being replaced this century by the power of proximity to Asia. We have a lot to offer Asia—our workers have a lot to offer—not only by way of our resources but also in terms of our strong, world-leading institutions and our open and resilient economy. But, as I said, to fully take advantage of these kinds of opportunities, we need to have a highly skilled and dynamic workforce. We need to find ways for our workers to be part of the elaborate global value chains that now characterise world trade.

As the McKinsey Global Institute report Global flows in a digital age has found, by far the greatest growth in global flows lies in knowledge-intensive goods and services. In fact, knowledge-intensive goods flows are growing at 1.3 times the rate of labour-intensive goods. While the developed world is leading the way in exports and imports, China's knowledge-intensive flows are the world's second largest already. So, to be a competitive part of the interconnected economy of the Asia-Pacific, Australia must continue to be a leader in knowledge exports. We need to be innovative and creative, and this all depends on a well-educated, well-trained, modern workforce here in Australia.

The Labor Party, while in government, anticipated these opportunities that lie ahead for Australia and sought to position our country to benefit from the regional economic transition underway. That is why we invested $19 billion in skills and training for smarter jobs and a stronger nation. It is why we developed a needs based funding model for schools, to give every child in Australia—every child, including kids from the poorer areas in my electorate—the chance to get ahead. We introduced the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, the agency we are talking about now, to identify the challenges and strategically determine solutions to strengthen our workforce.

As I said before, the Labor opposition do not want to see the coalition dismantle our plan for future prosperity in Australia based on human capital and the tools of success in our workforce. That is why we are seeking to amend the bill today. I commend my very good colleague the member for Cunningham for her amendments, which call on the government to guarantee that the independent advice and analysis on workforce and productivity issues will continue to be provided and publicly available, even if and when this particular agency is abolished. This advice is vital for government, industry and the education sector to respond to the challenges that lie ahead for our economy. With the demise of this body we need to find an alternative way to get that advice.

The last thing I will say is: we need to do all we can to take advantage of the Asian century before us, and that is why this side will be doing its best to make sure Australia moves forwards in this regard, and not backwards.

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