Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022 and the Jobs and Skills Australia (National Skills Commissioner Repeal) Bill 2022. During the campaign for the seat of Boothby, few economic issues were raised with me more often than skills shortages. I heard from small business owners and managers who simply couldn't find the trained staff they needed to keep their cafe, shop or family landscaping business operating—let alone expand. I heard from conveyancers and psychologists, healthcare services and childcare services. An aged care provider told me they put on 15 staff one month but they lost 22 the same month, and they were paying above-award wages. An allied health provider told me her staff were receiving unsolicited job offers from other providers every week.

And yet I also heard from, and have long been acutely aware of, people who couldn't find gainful employment. Many of these people were doing everything right, to use the jargon. They had tried to upskill themselves to meet the relevant skills gaps in our economy, but they faced barriers. The cost of training was too high; training and work weren't available anywhere near where they lived; and there were not enough after-hours training programs, meaning many, particularly those with caring responsibilities or those who were already working in the daytime and wanted to upskill, simply couldn't attend. This challenge, the match of jobs and skills and the disconnect between the two, is what drove this government to bring together voices from across our economy and society—from businesses, unions, civil society, academia and community groups—to discuss how we can improve this area, and it is the principle that underpins this legislation.

Briefly, the legislation is the first step in implementing the government's election commitment to establish a new statutory body: Jobs and Skills Australia. This bill represents the first of a two-stage legislative process to implement this commitment. The second stage is to be completed in a timely fashion after consultations with governments, unions, industry and employer groups. Jobs and Skills Australia will be tasked with providing expert independent advice to the government on current, future and emerging skills and workforce training issues. This advice will help inform the government policies and programs that we will need to improve the nation's training systems, and ensure that skilled workers can be appropriately matched with industry needs—evidence-based decision-making.

The bill will prescribe an initial set of functions for Jobs and Skills Australia, including providing advice to the Minister for Skills and Training and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and their agencies in relation to providing advice on Australia's current and emerging labour market. This includes advice on workforce needs and priorities; providing advice on Australia's current and emerging future skills and training needs and priorities, including apprenticeships; and the adequacy of the Australian system in providing VET, including training outcomes. And Jobs and Skills Australia will also be tasked with producing accurate and up-to-date data and analysis, such as workforce forecasting, assessing workforce skill requirements and undertaking cross-industry workforce analysis. Crucially, Jobs and Skills Australia will also be tasked with informing the public about issues in employment and skills, to ensure greater transparency and collaboration from all sectors.

As I have said, this bill is the starting gun in improving our jobs and skills framework. Much like the future Jobs and Skills Australia, I and many of my Labor colleagues have been in the process of hearing directly from those in our communities who are impacted by jobs and skills shortages. Two weeks ago today I convened a group of around 45 business leaders, local government officials, civic society representatives and leaders for the 'Boothby Jobs and Skills Summit'. There we heard of the skills shortage that goes to the aims of this legislation. Indeed, as many in this House know, 17 per cent of businesses reported not having enough employees in February 2022. This is particularly acute in the higher skilled occupations, at a staggering 67 per cent. This was something noted by many of the advanced manufacturing groups who attended the Boothby summit, and particularly those from the Tonsley precinct.

It is also the case in areas of paramount importance to our economy and our society: the care sectors of the economy. Anyone with any interaction with our care providers—whether it's aged care or disability care or trying to juggle getting access to early childhood education and care—knows we have a jobs and skills crisis. Care centres are understaffed and overstretched; job vacancies run into double digits for many centres. It was a theme that underpinned just about every discussion at the Boothby summit, because the skills shortages in that area have a dramatic impact on the wellbeing of Boothby families and the economic productivity of our community. We know that a lack of access to affordable care hampers many people, particularly women, in their efforts to get back to work.

It is also why it is so important—and I'm deeply heartened by the approach of the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs' recent announcements—that we clear the visa backlog and increase the skilled migration cap. While we know that we have a low unemployment rate at the moment, we also know it's because the borders were closed and the people haven't come back. We as Australians are suffering for that shortage.

I was fortunate to be invited to attend the National Jobs and Skills Summit here in Canberra last week, and I was struck by the sense of positive purpose and of constructive engagement between people from all sectors of our economy and society, both business reps and worker reps. I was also particularly taken with one panel, which focused on the lived experience of those people in our society who face significant social, cultural or economic barriers to entering the workforce. These might be people aged 50 and over whose experiences are too often overlooked by assumptions about the currency of their skills and their adaptability; or Australians with disability, who want the same opportunities afforded other Australians to contribute to our economy and society and to personally benefit from a career; or those from CALD backgrounds, who suffer when people can't look past a last name or an accent or cultural attire to see the hardworking dedication of millions of migrants to our country—in a country that's built on migrants. That's not to mention women, who are often underemployed in part-time or casual work due to caring duties. These women are looking for more opportunity.

These overlooked workforces are the untapped resource in our economy, and they are already here wanting to work. I'm very keen to see that Jobs and Skills Australia, the statutory body that will come about as a result of this and further legislation, can find ways to bring these people along as we work to solve our jobs and skills crisis together.

This bill is just the start of the government's action to address the skills crisis we've been left. The Australian Skills Guarantee will train thousands of workers by ensuring that one in 10 workers on major federally funded government projects is an apprentice, trainee or cadet. We will deliver 180,000 fee-free TAFE places next year—that's only a few months away. We've seen all state and territory governments and the Commonwealth commit to guiding principles to underpin a five-year national skills agreement from 2024, and I have to say Australia is thrilled to see people working together—states and Commonwealth. These same governments have made an agreement with the BCA, ACCI and the ACTU and developed the Statement of Common Interests on Skills and Training for the jobs summit. That is a level of cooperation that seemed impossible not so long ago.

The government has also committed to the TAFE Technology Fund to improve IT facilities, workshops, laboratories and telehealth simulators across the country. It has also committed to new energy apprenticeships to encourage Australians to train in the new energy jobs of the future by providing $100 million to support 10,000 new energy apprenticeships—jobs of the future. And, of course, we will produce the jobs summit and full employment white paper. This will be informed by the National Jobs and Skills Summit and will tackle challenges associated with improving the quality of work, underemployment, casualisation and job insecurity as well as stagnant wages. I'm so looking forward to the consultation on the white paper, because I know that businesses and workers in Boothby and across Australia are champing at the bit with commitment and ideas. They want to be involved. There's a feeling of relief and excitement—Australia is back in business again.

The Albanese government, and the Prime Minister and Treasurer in particular, have shown their ability to bring people together from across our economy and society, and I commend these bills as the first step in addressing our jobs and skills shortage and allowing Australia and all of its people to achieve their full economic potential.

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