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

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today I'm introducing the Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Bill 2023.

The bill delivers on the government's commitment to fully establish Jobs and Skills Australia as a statutory body to provide independent advice on the labour market, and the skills and training needs of workers and employers, now and in the future.

Australia is facing skills shortages across many of our critical industries. The healthcare and social assistance industry alone has a projected employment growth nationally of over 300,000 workers by 2026.

Meanwhile, our labour market is tight, with the unemployment rate sitting at 3.5 per cent in February 2023, and job advertisements over the last 12 months to January 2023 having increased by 4.5 per cent.

As at December 2022, 65 per cent of recruiting employers had difficulty finding staff—meanwhile, the number of occupations in shortage doubled in 12 months from 153 occupations to 286, which really underlines the scale of the challenge.

Jobs and Skills Australia's quarterly labour market update, released in February, found employment continues to shift towards jobs that are commensurate with some level of post-secondary school qualification.

Over the past year, around 36 per cent of total employment growth has been in occupations associated with university qualifications, and over 60 per cent of total employment has been in occupations where VET qualifications are the primary pathway.

This demonstrates the importance of both the VET and higher education systems to growing a highly skilled Australian workforce, and importantly Jobs and Skills Australia's independent advice related to the labour market and education and training.

The government is already taking action on these issues.

As at the October 2022-23 budget, the government is budgeting $6.3 billion for VET in the 2022-23 financial year. This is $451 million higher than estimated at the March 2022-23 budget, in no small part due to new funding for 180,000 fee-free TAFE and vocational education places this year.

We are investing $921.7 million over five years from 2022-23 to strengthen Australia's VET system and address skills shortages, providing 480,000 fee-free TAFE and VET places, and $50 million to establish a TAFE Technology Fund to modernise IT infrastructure, workshops, laboratories, telehealth simulators and other facilities at TAFEs across Australia.

The government is committed to working collaboratively with states and territories to deliver a new five-year national skills agreement in accordance with the vision and guiding principles agreed by skills ministers and endorsed by National Cabinet in August 2022 and announced in the Jobs and Skills Summit following that National Cabinet meeting.

We are investing almost $100 million over the next decade to deliver 10,000 New Energy Apprenticeships.

Pertinently to the bill I am presenting to the House today, the 2022-23 October budget also included funding for the establishment of Jobs and Skills Australia and building the body's capacity for tripartite partnerships and engagement.

We have provided funding for Jobs and Skills Australia to deliver a clean energy capacity study, to provide critical evidence and insights to support the workforce planning and policy development needed to build a strong and vibrant clean energy sector and contribute to the Australian government's Powering Australia plan.

Jobs and Skills Australia will also conduct a national study on adult literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy skills to provide an up-to-date evidence base on levels of these foundation skills among Australian adults. This will be the most comprehensive study ever undertaken in Australia. The results will inform the design of future programs and policies.

This government committed to undertaking a genuine consultative approach with stakeholders in designing the permanent model of Jobs and Skills Australia, so that everyone could benefit.

Introducing the legislation in two stages, including this amendment bill, has allowed the government the time and opportunity to consult with key tripartite partners and stakeholders, like state and territory governments, business leaders, unions, training and education providers, and civil society representatives.

Taking into consideration what we heard, this bill sets out the full range of functions and governance arrangements to establish the permanent model.

Jobs and Skills Australia will operate as a truly tripartite organisation, with unions, employers, and state and territory governments brought in as partners informing and resolving the skills and labour market crisis we are facing and in building the workforce we need for Australia's future.

It was clear through consultation that partners and stakeholders saw what an opportunity Jobs and Skills Australia has to help shape the nation as we grapple with labour shortages, and as the training and education sectors are required to make significant choices in adapting to the challenges posed by climate change, rapid technological change, and a migration system being revamped.

In November 2022, we formally established Jobs and Skills Australia as a priority, and to hit the ground running. Professor Peter Dawkins was appointed as the interim JSA director and has been leading the body through a period of rapid growth in scope, particularly the heightened focus on engagement with tripartite partners and industry stakeholders.

In the interim phase, Jobs and Skills Australia has begun a new, critical workforce forecasting and scenario planning role. This work is supporting the skills and training system to respond to current and future workforce needs, by assessing workforce requirements and undertaking a whole-of-economy outlook.

Jobs and Skills Australia has commenced a major study of the workforce implications of the transition to a net zero economy through the clean energy capacity study. It has begun work on a new foundation skills study to develop a stronger evidence base on the skills needs of some of our most vulnerable cohorts.

This new work has been underpinned by the core functions of Jobs and Skills Australia, such as producing data and analytics, focused on skills demand and labour market insights.

This bill now establishes the permanent Jobs and Skills Australia, including its full range of functions and governance arrangements. The government is committed to strengthening Jobs and Skills Australia as an independent advisory body, trusted to produce a robust evidence base on the critical issues facing Australia's labour market.

State and territory governments, industry leaders in unions and employer groups, local leaders, education providers and experts have provided their views to the government about what is needed from Jobs and Skills Australia.

Such partners are essential in both influencing the design of Jobs and Skills Australia, and in providing advice to government. They provide us with the understanding and expertise about skills and labour market issues, and those issues prevalent for their industries and regions. Consultation has been ongoing, including through the government's Jobs and Skills Summit, through bilateral meetings and roundtables, and through a public discussion paper process.

Stakeholders have told the government they want to see Jobs and Skills Australia maintain its independence through its analysis and advice to produce insights that will benefit everyone—from state and territory governments, industry, and education providers.

The advice provided by Jobs and Skills Australia will be independent—while the Minister for Skills and Training and the department secretary can request advice from Jobs and Skills Australia, the advice provided will be made independently by the JSA commissioner and the minister will not give direction about the content of any advice.

The department's role is limited—as a statutory body Jobs and Skills Australia can leverage corporate resources from the department, including property, digital and operational infrastructure, and staff. It is common practice for independent bodies (both primary and secondary) to be resourced by Commonwealth public servants.

While independent, it will not have responsibility to direct funding at a Commonwealth or a state and territory level. Rather, Jobs and Skills Australia's role is advisory and may inform and provide analysis on government responses to skills and workforce measures. States and territories and other agencies will retain autonomy and flexibility to make their own policy and program decisions.

I have committed to state and territory colleagues that they will have a role in Jobs and Skills Australia to ensure it is working effectively to provide analysis and advice crucial for them to deliver their training needs in their respective jurisdictions.

This is reflected by the particular role they have with Jobs and Skills Australia—two representatives on the Ministerial Advisory Board, the requirement that the JSA Commissioner must engage with them on the work program, and the ability to collaborate and second experts.

I will work closely with my colleagues across the states and territories and ensure they contribute to the development of Jobs and Skills Australia's advice.

Likewise, I expect our partner industries, unions, business peaks and education providers to play a strong role in informing the analysis and advice of Jobs and Skills Australia based on their deep networks and understanding of the system and how it operates practically.

This bill establishes the governance of Jobs and Skills Australia, with a commissioner, deputy commissioners and a ministerial advisory board, who will provide critical leadership support, engaging widely to support the delivery of the work program of Jobs and Skills Australia.

This body will be led by an independent commissioner, who will be appointed in a long-term permanent capacity through a merit-based selection process.

The commissioner will be supported by no more than two deputy commissioners—who will have broad-ranging skills and experience in representing the views of stakeholders to assist the government in addressing skilling, workforce and labour market needs.

Experts may be engaged on a shorter, time-limited basis to lead some studies and to assist the commissioner in the exercise of their functions. This will allow the work of Jobs and Skills Australia to be best supported by leadership, where work is required on specific studies or where work is required with other government agencies and key stakeholder groups, to ensure appropriate expertise, consideration and consultation is undertaken.

The Ministerial Advisory Board will be truly tripartite and representative. It will ensure Jobs and Skills Australia builds strong relationships and will provide the government with expert advice on its work plan and other products.

Board members will be diverse in their skills and experience and consult with and represent the views of their respective sectors, industries and cohorts. Relevant advice from the Ministerial Advisory Board must be considered by the JSA Commissioner when performing their functions.

The Ministerial Advisory Board will ensure advice is informed by a wide range of views, insights and expertise, including experts representing the views of states and territories, tertiary education, employer groups and unions, data and analysis, workforce planning, those representing priority cohorts and those most disadvantaged in the labour market.

The bill legislates the requirement of two representatives for the states and territories, three members representing unions, balanced fairly and equitably, and three members representing employers. Up to four other members can be appointed, but they must be from non-union and non-employer groups.

During consultation, we have heard from tripartite partners about the importance of workforce planning functions for strengthening the economy. This bill clarifies the extra functions Jobs and Skills Australia will undertake to support the government's objectives of maintaining full employment, cultivating positive labour market outcomes and meeting our future workforce needs.

The government is determined that the trend over the last decade towards more insecure, low-paid and unskilled work is turned around. To do this, we need to have the data and analysis, and the bill establishes a requirement for Jobs and Skills Australia to give advice on the impact of workplace arrangements, including insecure work, on economic and social outcomes, building an evidence base by analysing the experiences of affected Australians.

This complements the government's moves to make secure work an object of the Fair Work Act 2009, with the passage of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Billin December 2022.

Jobs and Skills Australia, as part of its expanded functions, will improve the identification of labour imbalances across the economy and analyse the demand and supply of skills. During consultation, stakeholders have reminded us of the importance of having improved supply and demand analysis to better understand barriers to workforce participation.

We know that both the vocational education and training and higher education systems are required to skill Australians for jobs both now and in the future. More than nine out of 10 new jobs are projected to require post-school qualifications. Some of our critical industries, like the care workforce, have skills gaps across skill levels, requiring both VET and tertiary-level qualifications.

The advice provided by JSA will consider tertiary qualifications—both through the VET system, including apprenticeships and higher education—to ensure there are flexible pathways to develop skills and knowledge for employment across the economy.

People living in regional, rural, and remote areas face unique challenges. The bill will ensure Jobs and Skills Australia produces enhanced regional-level data and analysis of skills and workforce needs, to provide a greater understanding of jurisdictional differences, such as changing economic conditions, emerging or growing industries, and where some regions are going through economic transition periods.

The bill will also ensure JSA considers workforce and skills needs relating to migration. This will allow for JSA's role in the migration program to be embedded following further policy development by my colleagues the Minister for Home Affairs and the minister for immigration.

The government has frequently heard through its consultation period about the need for more granular data to inform workforce planning and policy and funding decisions at the regional level. This enhanced function for JSA will include nowcasts and forecasts so that stakeholders can use this data to implement place based solutions.

The bill expands functions of JSA to undertake studies to improve the analysis and understanding of Australians that have historically experienced disadvantage and exclusion in the labour market.

Some of these groups are marginalised, by way of age, health, gender or background. We need to do more for these groups, and work with stakeholders that can help the government to understand labour market disadvantage and exclusion—like First Nations Australians, women, people aged over 55, people with disability, our cultural and linguistically diverse community, and young people.

JSA will also undertake comprehensive workforce and occupational capacity studies for government funded services, like early childhood education.

As part of its functions, JSA will regularly contribute to industry consultation forums, to strengthen the national evidence base and industry-specific expertise. This function specifically includes collaborating with jobs and skills councils to help facilitate their role in defining jobs roles, mapping pathways, determining sectoral workforce needs, and developing fit for purpose qualifications and microcredentials.

I expect JSA will establish a subcommittee devoted to collaboration with jobs and skills councils.

The government is determined to continue to restore tripartite consultation and genuine partnerships. This bill will legislate for the workplan of JSA, setting out the key outcomes and priorities for the JSA commissioner to be established in consultation with all jurisdictions and tripartite partners, and it must invite public submissions.

This will ensure its workplan is supporting workforce shortages, and long-term capacity is built in Australia's workforce through shared solutions. This workplan will be published each financial year.

For JSA to operate as intended and for the benefit of all stakeholders, the bill includes a requirement for a statutory review to begin within two years after commencement of this bill.

The advice of JSA and its expanded functions will help build a better trained workforce and a more productive economy. The government supports the aspirations of all workers for secure work, meaningful work, and a better future. With work comes purpose and identity.

Australians who have the right skills have more job security, satisfaction, and more job choices. A skilled workforce is also a more productive workforce.

Learning new skills, acquiring knowledge, and cultivating innovation is key to opportunity, wage growth and job security for workers, and to increasing productivity and revenue for industries.

The government understands immediate action is needed to address critical skill shortages and JSA has an important role to play.

The core business of this government is to create more opportunities for all Australians to prosper. That is why establishing JSA as a trusted national source of data, analytics, and workforce forecasting and planning has been a priority of the government. I firmly believe that JSA is, and will be understood widely as, one of Australia's essential social and economic agencies. If, as a nation, we are to improve productivity and wellbeing, then we need high-quality analysis regarding our human capital. This is the task of Jobs and Skills Australia today and in the decades to come. I'm excited about how public policy will improve because of Jobs and Skills Australia's influence, and I want to note that their work is of national significance and will help improve people's lives. I commend this bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.