Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Skills and Training. How will the Albanese Labor government's landmark five-year National Skills Agreement embed national cooperation and strategic investment in our vocational education and training sector after a wasted decade? And what has been the response to the agreement?

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

I thank the member for Higgins for her question and her strong support for the VET sector. We have of course landed a very important landmark agreement for the VET sector, reaching an accord with the state and territory governments. I want to thank the Prime Minister for making that happen finally this week. I'd like to thank my counterpart ministers in all state and territory governments for working with me over the last 12 months to make sure we did that, because we need to ensure that we have an agreement that can drive skills and supply the skills in areas of demand. We have very major challenges in sectors of our economy: the transformation of the energy sector, making sure that we've got greater sovereign capability and ensuring we respond to the labour and skills supply shortages in the care economy, just to mention a few. I'd like to thank those ministers for their very collaborative efforts to date.

I'd also like to inform the House, if I may, of the response by industry to this agreement. This really does, I think, underline that we are working across the constituent parts of the economy. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar has said with respect to the agreement that the best way for Australia to avoid recurring skills shortages is to invest strongly in training Australians. This new agreement has inbuilt features to prevent further skills shortages. The Business Council of Australia CEO Bran Black spoke of the vital role the VET sector must play in developing critical skills needed to meet current and future workforce needs. The ACTU and AEU called the skills agreement a game changer that will make an incredible difference to working people and the next generation coming through—

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

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

That's right: unions. Have you heard the word? It's alright. Is that okay? Can I quote Innes Willox? Is that okay? Innes Willox, who is head of the AI Group, said that this agreement could not be more timely, and he called it an historic and economy-changing plan. That's what Innes Willox said about this agreement, if that's okay with you. He's right, of course. To fix the massive skills shortage that we inherited and to rebuild and renovate the VET sector, we needed to have this agreement.

It is the first National Skills Agreement in a decade. What were you doing over those last nine years? Nothing! Completely incompetent—unable to deliver any decent agreement with respect to skills and training in this country. We have the Deputy Leader of the Opposition calling fee-free TAFE 'wasteful spending', yet 215,000 Australians are enrolled in courses of demand to supply the skills that our economy needs, that businesses need, and that workers and students need, and we'll continue to work with state and territory governments and industry to supply those needs.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the member for Goldstein, I didn't want to interrupt during the answer, but I want to remind ministers that, under page 504 of Practice and standing order 65(a), it's not acceptable to say 'you' when speaking to another member in the chamber.