Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Skills and Training. How is the Albanese Labor government working to promote economic growth and address the skills shortage crisis it has inherited?

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I thank the member for Macarthur for his interest in this area and for the question and for the fact that he's been a very strong advocate for TAFE and the VET sector in his community. I'm very conscious of his longstanding involvement with Campbelltown and Macquarie Fields TAFE, who do a great job.

As we know, we need to provide more investment and more resources for the VET sector, and we need to reform the sector so it's fit for purpose to provide the skills our labour market needs, to provide those skills that employers are crying out for and to provide the skills that workers deserve so they can have secure work and they can actually have decent career progression because they have skills that are in demand. Wherever you look across the economy, you see skill shortages. Quite frankly, it is a skills crisis. There are acute shortages in some sectors of the economy. Whether it's aged care, disability care, nurses, GPs, especially in the regions, or the tech industry, they're crying out for more people to fill vacancies. It includes traditional trades, such as boilermakers, electricians and plumbers, and sectors like tourism, hospitality and retail. So there is almost no area of the economy that is not in need of skills supply, and for that reason the government is focusing on that issue.

It was a very good start, I think, when, on the first day of the Jobs and Skills Summit, the Prime Minister announced an investment in TAFE: 180,000 fee-free TAFE places for 2023. This is a great announcement, and it was, of course, one that was in partnership with every state and territory government in this country—an agreement that should have been struck well before the election by the previous government if they had been focusing on these issues. Not only will that investment mean that people will be able to afford and access TAFE places in areas of skills shortage; it will, of course, provide a pipeline, a supply of skills to the economy and the labour market, which are so much in need of that supply. That is, of course, critical.

Can I say too that the fact is that nine out of 10 new jobs over the next five years will require a post-school qualification, whether that's in universities or whether that's in VET. Four of every 10 jobs in the next five years will require at least a vocational qualification. That's why the investment in this area is so important. But, of course, we have to get it right, and that's why we'll establish Jobs and Skills Australia, which will in fact identify the skills shortages that are there now but also, as importantly, identify the emerging areas of demand so that, when we invest billions of dollars, we can supply the skills that are needed. (Time expired)