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

I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

I'd like to thank members and senators for working together to finalise the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022. I think it's fair to say that the discussion and debate in this place and in the Senate has improved the bill. I want to thank the members for Indi and Kennedy, the Greens party, the opposition and also Senator David Pocock for their constructive engagement, for looking to find ways to improve the legislation. Whilst we had some areas of difference, in the end we reconciled those differences, and I think, as a result, we have a better piece of legislation to be enacted.

The Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022 is a very important bill. It leads to, at least in the interim, the creation of this entity, which is about providing much better advice to government and industry about the nature of the labour market, the economy and how we supply the skills that are in need.

We are going through a skills crisis. We have the tightest labour market in decades. We have skills shortages across the economy. Every industry, whether it's aged care, advanced manufacturing, traditional trades, tech industry, nurses, doctors—wherever you look, we have significant challenges in supplying the skills that are needed. I think that's particularly the case in regional Australia, in many professions and occupations.

We have a big job to do, and that's why the Prime Minister convened the Jobs and Skills Summit, which brought together employers and unions, civil society, state and territory governments. We had a very good discussion which has led to some immediate action, including, of course, the announcement of 180,000 fee-free TAFE and VET places next year and also the very significant reform over the next five years with the National Skills Agreement, which I hope will commence on 1 January 2024. We think that's an opportunity to ensure reform to the VET sector so it's fit for purpose, to supply the skills that businesses are crying out for, the skills that workers need so that they are in demand so they can have secure employment, so they can have career progression and so that our economy grows so that we have a more productive economy, which of course will ensure cheaper goods and services.

We're dealing with very high inflation, and we think improving productivity and reducing the costs of goods and services will, of course, be one of the ways to tackle that significant challenge. Beyond that, we're living in a globalised knowledge-based economy—a very competitive world. If we don't have a smart, innovative, skilled and knowledgeable workforce, we will be left behind. So, for all the reasons it's important for people to have great education and training, which transforms their lives, countries need a skilled workforce to ensure a good quality of life for its citizens. And that's what we want to see happen.

I want to thank all members and senators who've been very constructive in the engagement on this matter. We want to get this going very soon. We hope that will provide the advice that industry needs, government needs and the country needs to respond to this very significant challenge—namely, the skills crisis in the economy.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition will be supporting the amended Jobs and Skills Australia Bill. The opposition has successfully introduced transparency into the Albanese government's key workforce agency, Jobs and Skills Australia, after working constructively with the crossbench and convincing the government to support the bar that we set with the National Skills Commission.

The opposition successfully pursued the introduction of key accountability measures into the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022 that were existing and legislative features of the National Skills Commission Act 2020. The National Skills Commission model worked and was developed and delivered following the Steven Joyce review, commissioned by the coalition government. The National Skills Commission was required to provide an annual report to the minister reflecting Australia's current, emerging and future workforce skills needs over the calendar year. This was tabled in parliament and provided important information about the state of the Australian economy. It provided accountability for government and a benchmark of performance on workforce outcomes.

Now, Labor had removed the formal requirement for the Jobs and Skills Australia director to report to parliament at all. Our support for the bill was contingent on it being reintroduced. Labor did try to water down accountability in the way in which the minister would be able to task Jobs and Skills Australia. Under Labor's legislation, directions from the minister did not even need to be given in writing, meaning there would be no formal record of what the minister tasked this important agency with. This would have been serious loss of transparency, given the minister was only able to give directions to the National Skills Commissioner by way of legislative instrument. Labor sought to reduce parliament's oversight of the directions provided to Jobs and Skills Australia. Our support for the bill was contingent on it being re-introduced. As Australia continues to face challenges across our workforce, we want Jobs and Skills Australia to succeed. To ensure it does, transparency will be vital.

So, thanks to the work of the opposition, Jobs and Skills Australia will be more transparent and therefore more effective as it spends the hard-earned tax dollars of the Australian people. We commend the amended bill to the House.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the amendments be agreed to.

Question agreed to.