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

I also rise today to speak on the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency Repeal Bill 2014 and the amendment moved by my fantastic colleague the member for Cunningham. It is disappointing to see that this bill abolishes a key national policy and research body on skills and workforce development, and seeks to fold its duties into the Department of Industry. We want to see the sort of advice and analysis provided by this body continue, and that is what our amendment is all about.

By abolishing this stand-alone body, the government is once again proving its inability to anticipate the jobs and the workforce of the future with foresight and intelligence. I have spoken in this place before about the challenges that lie ahead of us in developing a workforce ready for the industries of tomorrow—challenges like rapid technological advance, the globalisation of the workforce, and the rise of intergenerational disadvantage, which are the sorts of things we need to be thinking about now when it comes to our approach to human capital in the workforce.

These challenges are having real effects on the face of the Australian jobs market. The job numbers have bounced around a bit and there have been some patchy outcomes. For a good discussion of the labour market I commend to the House the speech yesterday by Chris Kent of the Reserve Bank. We get some very good, clear-eyed analysis out of our central bank, and I encourage people to check it out.

Members will recall that over the first several months after the election of this government, the prevailing theme was announcement after announcement of job losses. Across thirty of Australia's largest employers, over 28,000 job losses were announced: 5,000 at Qantas, more than 6,000 in automotive manufacturing, and many more at manufacturers around the nation. The sad reality is that a great deal of the jobs lost or announced to be lost are likely gone forever, at least in their most recent form. And while aggregate job creation figures have been stronger over the last couple of months, many of the job losses that have been announced are yet to take effect, and they are concentrated in the outer suburbs of our major cities, places already shouldering most of the burden of this government's budget decisions. The result is a labour market characterised by volatility and uncertainty, even if the headline rate does not reflect this.

For thousands of Australians there is not only the uncertainty of whether their job will be secure into the future but there is also the uncertainty of whether they have the skills required to move into a new job. For young people contemplating their future careers, there is uncertainty about whether the types of jobs their parents and grandparents went into will even exist in Australia in the years ahead. So there are real challenges associated with the rapidly changing labour market in Australia.

But there are even greater opportunities for us, and it is our role as policymakers and decision makers to identify these opportunities and to equip people with the requisite skills to take advantage of them. Since 2012, this has been the function of the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, and prior to that it was the task set for Skills Australia.

The great advantage of the AWPA is that it was an independent advice body for the government on current, emerging and future skill needs. It brought together peak national bodies such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group and the ACTU, to achieve genuine cross-sectoral industry leadership.

Over the last twelve months, the AWPA has conducted studies into the state of manufacturing, retail, resources, food and beverages, and the ICT workforce in Australia—all sectors that are key to the future of our country and our economy. Their reports have included recommendations for government, for industry and for the education sector to improve Australia's skills and productivity base in these sectors. And with the labour market in Australia in a state of volatility, uncertainty and transition, these recommendations have never been more important. This is particularly true for the higher and vocational education sectors, which are charged with preparing our young people for the jobs of the future. That is why some key figures in the higher education sector have come out in opposition to scrapping the AWPA. Leesa Wheelahan, 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—

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