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

I thank all members for their contributions to this very important debate. There has never been a greater need for an independent statutory body such as this to advise government and to identify skills shortages in our labour market and in our economy, and also to forecast more precisely areas of emerging demand. That's so that when we make very significant investments in education and training, we do so with an understanding of what's happening in the labour market—what the skills are that employers need to fill vacancies and what the skills are that workers need so they have skills in demand, which of course will provide more secure work and, indeed, capacity to progress through their working life.

As we know, Australia is experiencing acute skills shortages. Tightening labour market conditions have exacerbated existing workforce pressures. Indeed, as we heard at the Jobs and Skills Summit, employers around the country are experiencing significant challenges in finding suitably skilled staff to fill vacancies, and many workers don't have those skills that align with the current needs of industry and businesses. There is a genuine and growing need for a workforce with relevant and high-quality skills in traditional sectors like construction and the care workforce, and in emerging sectors such as clean energy and digital technology.

We need to act now. The initial creation of Jobs and Skills Australia will enable the essential work that's needed to find solutions to these skills and workforce challenges to start as soon as practicable. We also need to work in partnership with industry, unions, the education and training sector, and students to ensure we get this right. We will engage widely, including being informed by the Jobs and Skills Summit, before introducing further legislation to establish the permanent Jobs and Skills Australia. This approach will ensure that this body is designed in a way that considers the needs of all key stakeholders in our workforce and in our skills sector. We need to make sure it is informed by those in the real economy and we need to make sure that states and territories, which deliver much of our education and training, are also involved and engaged.

The passage of these bills through the parliament will also allow work to begin on the workforce capacity study into Australia's clean energy workforce, as announced at the Jobs and Skills Summit, with additional resourcing of $1.9 million. This is an area that's transitioning now, but which will but will require a very significant increase in so far as new workers are concerned—a new set of skills required for a sector that is changing dramatically. These are shared challenges, and all levels of government, industry, business, employers, unions and education providers must work together if we want to unlock the full potential of Australia's workforce and ensure that Australians have the skills and training for the jobs of today and indeed for the future.

I also note that the second bill will effectively repeal the National Skills Commission. The National Skills Commission did some good work in collecting data, but its remit was rather narrow. I want to say through this place to the Australian people that I spoke with the National Skills Commissioner and I thanked him for the work he undertook in terms of identifying shortages and that I appreciated the engagement we have had. but I do believe that the new body will be broader and be informed by the real economy and I think that engaging with state and territory governments will provide more effective means to identify and forecast skills shortages. I'd also like to note the consultations with the members for Indi and Kennedy and Senators Faruqi and Pocock. I thank them for their engagement and the constructive discussions that we have had on this matter. The issues raised by them will be addressed in consideration in detail, which most likely will be tomorrow, as I understand it.

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who has engaged in and contributed to this debate, particularly those who put forward very constructive proposals. Whilst I didn't agree with all of them, the spirit in which they were put and the fact that many of them will add value to the direction of the government, after the enactment of this legislation, is a good thing.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Ordered that further consideration of the bill be made an order of the day for the next sitting.