Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment (Governance and Other Matters) Bill 2020, which will make amendments to the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011. These amendments build on those introduced last year by the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2019. The amendments contained in this bill, as well as those contained in previous amendments to the act, aim to strengthen the role of the Australian Skills Quality Authority as the national VET regulator. These changes will support improvements to the national VET regulator's governance arrangements, regulatory practice and other critical areas of business, such as strategy, communication and sector engagement.

With these and other changes made to the act, this government aims to elevate the status of vocational education and training. We say to the Australian public that vocational education and training is not the second option; it is not the second best that many have considered it to be. We say that there are extraordinary training opportunities out there for young people and not so young people, and that we are committed to developing these opportunities for the prosperity of our nation. These changes are about delivering excellence in training. They are about promoting quality in the VET sector and they are about improving access to high-quality training opportunities for Australians.

Regional areas, such as my electorate of Mallee, stand to gain the most from improvements to the VET sector and from great access to high-quality training opportunities as our local economy begins to recover and refocus. Skilled local jobs create new opportunities for Mallee residents to find rewarding careers, with flow-on benefits across the region's economy and our community. As we continue to focus on new and emerging technologies and industries such as renewable energy, artificial intelligence and robotics, the demand for skilled local jobs will increase significantly. Access to high-quality training opportunities is critical to meeting this demand.

It's also essential to align skills and training provision with industry-specific demand. We have to know which skills we need, where we need them and how we can get them. In 2017, work was completed by the Victorian Skills Commissioner to answer these questions for the northern half of my electorate. The Mallee Regional Skills Demand Profile showed that future skills demand was highest in health care and horticulture. Linda Beilharz from RDA Loddon Mallee told me recently that work has commenced to refresh the skills profile for 2020 to gain an updated understanding of the region's workforce and skilling requirements. I've talked with her about the need for us to be future focused with a long-term, 10-to-20-year scope. Understanding regional and industry-specific demand in this way is so important in assisting training providers to respond to these needs effectively. I've been working closely with training providers and industry stakeholders to explore opportunities to expand the region's offering of VET qualifications.

In December last year I convened a think-tank discussion between training providers, industry groups, local government authorities and department representatives. The main issues raised at the forum were the complexity and bureaucracy of the VET industry, the need to provide further education and career advice for parents and students at an earlier stage, the quality of training programs provided to students in certain industries, and the need to reduce costs associated with taking on regional apprenticeships and trainees. The think tank was held in Charlton in Buloke Shire, which has been described as a black spot for vocational education and training. A report by the consulting firm, Nous, argued that the shire is at risk of becoming completely disconnected from the tertiary education system at a time when there are significant skills shortages in the region. TAFEs that were previously active in the shire have exited and many workers and trainees must travel many kilometres to other towns to undertake training, which incurs additional costs for individuals and businesses and discourages participation. Participants in the think tank were concerned that the region is squandering its potential local training opportunities, leading to skills shortages despite high demand from local industry.

Charlton is home to the North Central Trade Training Centre and has fabulous modern facilities that have the potential to provide extensive training opportunities. I'm eager to explore how local training providers can collaborate with industry to increase access to high-quality training opportunities for students in Charlton and Buloke Shire. In particular, I've been working closely with Geoff Dea and his team at the Sunraysia Institute of TAFE. In 2019 SuniTAFE was named the best large training provider in Australia, which is not difficult to understand given the outstanding leadership team, the professional staff and the dedication to the local community.

I'm very excited about SuniTAFE's SMART Farm, which aims to increase access to future technologies including robotics and automation for students in agriculture and horticulture. This project will provide students with unbridled access to the new technologies on which these evolving industries are becoming increasingly reliant. The project will allow our region to meet identified skill shortages in horticulture and agriculture and will help raise the profile of these industries as desirable career paths for our region's bright young minds. It will foster industry collaboration and lead to extensive research and development opportunities, and it will help the horticulture sector in the region shoulder the burden of economic recovery on the other side of the coronavirus. This project will mean greater access to high-quality training opportunities in key industries for students across the Mallee. This is why I was happy to support SuniTAFE's application to the Revitalising TAFE Campuses Across Australia Initiative for funds that will help see this project through to completion.

I've also been working closely with the Local Learning and Employment Network branches based in my electorate. Ron Broadhead from the northern Mallee LLEN has spoken to me about some of the fantastic work his organisation has been conducting. Ron is concerned about the proportion of students going into local apprenticeships compared to those who are leaving town to attend universities in Melbourne or Adelaide. The message Ron wants to send is that it's possible to have a fulfilling career and be successful without a university degree. His solution is also to start career education in schools a lot earlier than what we're doing right now. Kids need to know what opportunities are out there, and this needs to start as early as year 7 and 8, with involvement from parents, which is critical for success in the uptake.

Although the Local Learning and Employment Network is a Victorian state government initiative, the Morrison-McCormack government is eager to spread this message as well and has been active in promoting effective careers advice through the National Careers Institute, established last year. I would recommend that the National Careers Institute collaborate with our experts in the Local Learning and Employment Network.

This year I was pleased to coordinate a consultation via teleconference for the National Agricultural Workforce Strategy. This strategy is being developed by the National Agricultural Labour Advisory Committee, chaired by John Azarias. The strategy will recommend potential actions to address the future workforce needs of the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and related industries through actions that would target school education, vocational education and training, and higher education. It was great to hear from Professor Salah Sukkarieh, a member of the advisory committee and CEO of Agerris. For the past 15 years Professor Sukkarieh has been closely working with farmers and the agricultural community to build on farm robotics and AI tools. He works and advises the SuniTAFE SMART Farm project already, and he sees huge potential for the future of robotics in my electorate. We also heard from Dr Angeline Achariya, another member of the advisory committee and the executive director of innovation and growth at Simplot Australia. Dr Achariya is an expert in value-adding and commercialising innovation in agriculture. Her goal is to promote value-driven innovation rather than volume-driven innovation.

We all know that Australia produces enough food to feed 75 million people. The question now becomes how we best drive new value innovation. I'm eager to promote value-adding manufacturing in the Mallee electorate. Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to refocus our economy towards vertically integrated production, and a highly skilled local workforce is a key component to achieving this.

The story is very similar with other emerging industries. Take, for example, the renewable energy industry, which, over recent years, has developed extensively in my electorate of Mallee. There has been extensive investment in solar farms in northern Mallee, with more to come as we see improvements to Australia's grid infrastructure and increasing reliance on renewables in our nation's energy mix. I'm also very excited about possibilities related to hydrogen energy to supplement our solar and wind resources in the Mallee.

Recently I met with Rebecca Wells and Leonie Burrows from the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre to talk about energy, especially hydrogen energy. Hydrogen technologies can play a valuable role in capturing and storing excess energy that's generated by renewables to use when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. I see enormous potential for these technologies to link in with Mallee's solar resources, and I look forward to further developments in the government's National Hydrogen Strategy and the $300 million Advancing Hydrogen Fund.

Again, with the emergence of these new technologies and industries, I come back to one crucial ingredient: a highly skilled workforce, which will enable growth in these industries. There is no reason that Mallee cannot be a hub for 21st century manufacturing and energy. However, if we are to meet this potential we need to foster local job creation that is supported and developed by effective skills training. For this reason, improving access to high-quality education for locals is crucial.

Everyone I meet with and speak to, including SuniTAFE, registered training providers, the local learning network, industry stakeholders, schools, parents and students, wants to see improved access to and uptake of high-quality training opportunities. Strengthening the role of the Australian Skills Quality Authority as the national VET regulator will work towards this goal. That's why I'm supportive of the changes contained in this bill as well as those contained in previous amendments to the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011. They respond to the needs of regional areas that have been raised by members of my electorate. They will raise the status of vocational education and training and will improve access to high-quality training opportunities for all Australians.

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