Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry and Science. Australia faces a shortage of workers, particularly women, with experience in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. What is the government doing to increase the diversity of Australians participating in STEM to ensure a better economic future for all Australians?

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Hasluck, because she knows, like many of us on this side know, that we need modern skills for a modern economy. We've had—in particular, through the course of the pandemic—a realisation that technology was required by a lot of businesses to keep those businesses running through the pandemic and beyond, and that we need to find ways to build stronger businesses and more secure work that is much more well-paid. To be able to see a lot of that and that productivity occur, we need investment in skills. We also know that countries beyond our shores are investing in technology, big time, because they know what this is doing for their economies and for their communities.

The big thing from our perspective as an incoming government is to be able to provide support to industry. We've got, in particular, our flagship program—the National Reconstruction Fund—which will transform and strengthen industries and look at longer term growth for the economy and, importantly, provide a platform for employment growth. But, coming into government, we're also having to deal with a few things that are holding back the economy. Notably, we've had these decade-long skills shortages affecting science and technology and the types of skills that are required by modern businesses.

What we were looking at, over the course of the Jobs and Skills Summit, was how to ensure that we have those investments, like what the Minister for Skills and Training indicated earlier: investments in TAFE and the like; bringing forward those TAFE fee-free places; making sure that we have that pipeline of talent coming in from school, either through vocational education or universities; and making sure, as the Minister for Home Affairs says, that we can tap into global talent and bring that to supplement the economy.

The other big thing is that, with the amount of work that we need to do in this space and to address those skills shortages, we need to be able to call on talents from all corners of the community. For the people who had doors shut on them because people didn't have faith in their ability, we need to open those doors up. We need to provide the skills and training and make sure that women, First Nations people, migrants, older workers and those with a disability all have a chance to participate. The great thing that came out of the Jobs and Skills Summit last week was hearing representatives from business, but particularly from the tech sector, saying that they do want to engage in this area. They do want to provide those open pathways.

We will open up a review in terms of all the STEM programs that exist across government, particularly in my own, to see what we can do—the programs that are working well, scale them up; the ones that aren't, fold them in—and make sure that we've got the processes in place to widen opportunity. That is what's going to be important longer term for this economy: tapping into human capital and skill to drive that growth and strengthen businesses, and we want a lot more Australians to play a part in that very important endeavour.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.