Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, I stand to raise my concerns about the abolition of this very important body that addresses the growing skills crisis that we have in this country. It is wrong for people to say that it is red tape, that it is time to move forward and that we do not need more great bureaucracies. The fact is that government has a role to play when it comes to addressing the skills problem we have in this country. We cannot continue to rely on imported skills. We cannot continue to fill our gaps in the skills needs we have in our economy with 457 visas. We need to continue to invest in skills and we need to understand what those skills needs are, which is why this particular agency was established.

It replaced Skills Australia and provided expert, independent advice to the government on the current and emerging future skills and workforce development needs. The Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, which this bill seeks to abolish, was doing exactly that, providing the expert, independent advice that we need. One of the roles was in the area of industry. For example, the manufacturing sector recently released their report. Manufacturing is an issue that a number of people stand up in this House and present a very doom and gloom picture about and, yes, in some parts of Australia manufacturing is facing a crisis But in my own electorate of Bendigo, we have a good news manufacturing story to share. One of the challenges we always face in our area—and it is one of the issues that manufacturers always discuss with me—is the need for skills, that is, the need to have a workforce that is skilled, a workforce that is ready to work in manufacturers' businesses. Locally, our manufacturing area continues to be strong. Roughly, there are over 6,500 people working in manufacturing in the Bendigo electorate, ranging from food and beverage production to metal and mining equipment and engineering. Central Victoria still continues to be a major producer of food. Currently, there are just over 1,200 people working in the food production sector. There are just under 600 people working in our building manufacturing sector and just under 1,000 people are working in metals and engineering.

One of the reasons for the success of our manufacturing area and why it continues to be strong is that our manufacturers are not afraid of innovation. But with innovation comes the need for a skilled workforce. With innovation comes the need for partnership between industry, government and our education providers to ensure that we have the skills that these manufacturers need. Take, for example, one of our local manufacturers, Keech Australia. Only recently they opened their new innovation centre where they have engaged a workforce producing patterns. They have the biggest 3-D printer in the Southern Hemisphere, at home in Bendigo. In talking to them, I know that the people working in this part of their business have a patchwork arrangement of skills. Some of them have certificates from RMIT; some of them have diplomas from Geelong; some of them have diplomas from Ballarat University and some have degrees from the University of Latrobe. One of the challenges that the managing director at Keech talks to me about is the frustration of finding the people with the right skills. He is concerned that there will not be people in Australia in the future with the skills that he requires to continue to grow this part of their business. Again, this is why we need our governments to invest not only in skills but in research and conversation with manufacturers like Keech Castings to ensure that we have the skilled workforce we need.

Another manufacturer we have in Bendigo is Thales. As we stand here today debating this bill, Thales are in Paris as part of a big roadshow releasing the Hawkei, which is a vehicle designed and tested in Bendigo and Central Victoria. It is a vehicle that is world-class. It is a vehicle that we hope this government will sign the contract for so that Thales in Bendigo can then produce and manufacture this vehicle going forward. This vehicle which we hope this government will sign the contract for so that it can follow the success of the Bendigo built, designed and manufactured Bushmaster was developed in Bendigo. It is not something for which you can get out a sketchbook and develop overnight. You require a skilled workforce. You require an ongoing and maintained skilled workforce. This is another example of why we need to continue to invest in training people to have skills. Who knows that we need these skills in Bendigo? It is more than just the federal member who knows. It is universities, TAFEs and industry. It is through having bodies such as the one we are seeking to abolish today that we can have a national map of the skills that are needed.

Another manufacturer in my area that speaks to me quite often about skills is Hoffman Engineering. Yes, they have a strong manufacturing facility in Perth, but they also have one in Bendigo. I visited their site last week and I asked them, 'Why did you choose Bendigo?' They had a couple of reasons. They could have chosen anywhere on the east coast. They said the reasons why they chose Bendigo were, firstly, the support from local government, the former Labor government and the former federal government for establishing themselves in Bendigo. But the second and most important reason why was that there was already an established heavy and metal engineering skilled workforce. The fact that major manufacturers like Hoffman are willing to move to a town like Bendigo to establish and expand their business is testament to our local skills and our local manufacturing sector. But it also points to the need to continue to map out a plan for where we need skills, who we need to have these skills and what kind of skills we need them to have.

The final example of a local manufacturer that I have discussed skills shortages with is Barker Trailers in Woodend. Currently 10 per cent of their workforce are apprentices. They also have some 457 visa workers. They say the only reason why they have these workers is that they cannot get enough skilled people locally. Woodend is a small town. There are about 6,000 people living there, if you take in all the extra areas. One of their challenges in recruiting young apprentices is that they have to travel to do their coursework. To encourage their workers and apprentices to stay on they have gone to the next level of actually hiring a bus. The company, out of their own pocket, hire a bus to drive these workers from Woodend to Ballarat to do their coursework. There is no local TAFE for these apprentices to do their coursework. Getting on a train to Melbourne is fraught as well because of the constant cancellations in the train system. That makes it very hard for their apprentices to get there on time.

When we talk about skills, we need to look at the map of Australia and what we need not just for our current manufacturing and to ensure that we continue to have the skills to keep the businesses such as the ones I have mentioned but also to help us go forward and make sure we continue to support them in the expansion of their businesses, helping small businesses become medium businesses and then large businesses.

But what we have seen from this government so far is that they are smashing any role that government plays in building and developing industry. They are also smashing an entire generation of young people. When I say 'young people' I am not talking about people under 30. About 25 to 30 tends to be the age when people have started their first job, bought their first home and started having children. I am talking about people who are in high school and just about to finish secondary school who are deciding on their career choices. This government are targeting these particular young people through cuts to TAFEs, universities and apprenticeships, ensuring that their pathways through to a good job do not exist.

Take, for example, the changes to university and my own local university of La Trobe. The vice-chancellor and the campus director are worried that the deregulation of university fees, coupled with the funding cuts, will discourage local students from attending university. Right now there are about 4,000 students at La Trobe University. Of those, about 25 per cent are the first in their family to go to university. Linking into the local skills needs they have an engineering course, but the university is worried that because of fee deregulation the cost of that course will discourage local kids from enrolling. That will then put pressure on our manufacturers in making sure that they have the skills they need to continue to grow their businesses. La Trobe University this year welcomed just under 1,400 new students to their campus. What will their numbers be next year? With the government's plan for higher education and its cuts to universities and apprenticeship programs, we just do not know.

Choices for young people in the region are being limited because of this government. What we need to see from government is investment in pathways. We need to ensure that from secondary school through to that first job we are creating pathways and ensuring that people have access to education, whether it be through apprenticeships, TAFE or university. But right now the government has no plans for that and is, in fact, deregulating that and completely smashing what infrastructure we had available.

Suggesting that people should get themselves into hundreds of thousands of debt to obtain their skills is simply not fair. The government's logic that 60 per cent of taxpayers are paying for university fees is also misguided, because people who are taxpayers include people who have university degrees.

This government basically does not have a plan to create jobs in this country. The budget they handed down actually smashes jobs in this country. It is a budget that attacks our industry. It is a budget that has no vision.

I did not think I would be standing here and agreeing with some of the employer associations, but I find myself increasingly agreeing with them, because, like them, people in the Labor Party, people on this side of the House, believe that to continue to have a strong economy we need strong businesses with a skilled workforce. From this government what we have seen is basically the tearing up of that social contract. This bill is just one of many that demonstrates this governments ideologically driven opposition to supporting business growth. The minister took just a few minutes to introduce this bill, and we have seen previous speakers standing up and making short statements. Yet what we have not seen from this government is a plan, a long-term plan, to create jobs in this country. To simply say that people will go out and get a better job, when those better jobs do not exist, is just simply wrong.

This bill abolishes a body that was doing good work. This bill will not tackle an issue that will continue to be an issue into the future. This bill does not address our growing need for skills. (Time expired)

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