Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Skills Australia Bill 2008 is one of the first pieces of legislation to be tabled in the new parliament by Labor under Kevin Rudd. It is being marked as a priority for the parliament as the Rudd government recognises the degree of neglect by the Howard and Costello regime. That neglect and lack of funding has led to the situation in which Australia is now in—with a chronic shortage of skilled workers, for which industry is crying out to employ. This lack of skilled and trained workers is one of the major causes of the current inflationary pressures now evident in the Australian economy. The Rudd Labor government was elected to address this situation, and quite rightly it is a priority.

In the Senate last year I outlined the skills shortage problem and the duplication in systems that the former government’s bill introduced with the Australian technical colleges. The Commonwealth funded technical colleges run in duplication alongside the respective state based TAFE systems. Commonwealth funded colleges that were ‘unsurprisingly, located in marginal electorates such as Bass and Braddon in Tasmania’ have generally turned out to be expensive failures, with over half a billion dollars being spent on unnecessarily duplicated campuses and other facilities, which in late 2007 had resulted in: not a single graduate; 1,800 enrolments across all colleges; just two out of the 21 colleges having met their 2007 enrolment targets; an average cost per student of $175,000; only one-third of the colleges legally registered to provide training; the bulk of training outsourced to state TAFEs or registered training organisations.

With Skills Australia and the rest of the Rudd government’s five-point plan, we are planning to actually meet future challenges well before they arise—unlike the former government. It was not like they were not aware of the deepening skills shortage situation. They were given warning after warning. They were warned of the deepening skills crisis on more than 20 occasions by the Reserve Bank. The shadow minister, Mr Turnbull, is still pushing the former government’s line that Australia does not have a ‘chronic skills crisis’. However, his view is not echoed in a survey of 250 medium to large Australian companies recently released by the global business consultant Grant Thornton. The survey found that ‘shortages of skilled workers remained the biggest problem affecting expansion of Australian businesses’.

In addition to the constant warnings from the Reserve Bank, a survey and report of 760 producers conducted by the Australian Industry Group during the final term of the previous government—Australia’s skills gap: costly, wasteful and widespreadrevealed that one in two firms were experiencing difficulties obtaining skilled labour. Yet, according to It’s crunch time, another AiG report, one in five young adults have not completed year 12 or a certificate III vocational qualification. It is patently obvious from the former government’s lack of response to these reports and warnings that they were intent on looking after themselves electorally, with short-term excuses not long-term solutions. Skills Australia will be a statutory body headed by a panel of seven experts drawn from the worlds of industry, economics, training and academia. This management panel and Skills Australia will assist government in targeting investment in training exactly where it is needed.

As early as 1997, a year after their election, the former Howard-Costello administration ignored warnings by the Reserve Bank that skill shortages would adversely affect growth and were a prime contribution to rising inflation. The previous government masked these problems by using phrases such as ‘skill needs’ or ‘skill gaps’ and further compounded issues by reducing the Commonwealth’s funding of TAFE systems by 6.6 per cent between 1997 and 2000. These cuts have had an obvious flow-on effect that meant over the last decade TAFE has not been able to meet the demand for training places. The establishment of Skills Australia by way of this bill aims to reverse the situation and ensure that there are adequate places for workers to train in TAFEs countrywide. This is all part of the Rudd government’s five-point plan to fight inflation and lift the productive capacity of the Australian economy after the damage wreaked by over a decade of the Howard-Costello government’s neglect and decay.

In terms of skilled worker shortages, by the former Howard government’s own estimates Australia faces a shortage in excess of 200,000 skilled workers over the next five years. In fact, by 2016 that shortage will be closer to 240,000 workers that are not in place. That is 240,000 carpenters, electricians, nurses and plumbers that, had the previous government bothered to address the situation, would already be either advanced in their training or well and truly making a contribution to the economy. Instead, inflation is at a 16-year high, the building industry is overwhelmed and the waiting list for new houses grows day by day.

The Rudd Labor government has well and truly taken the horse by the reins and is confident that with the establishment of Skills Australia, combined with the rest of its five-point plan, the skills shortage will be addressed appropriately. Addressing and allocating resources to major areas of skill shortage and training needs—as identified by Skills Australia in consultation with industry—is the central tenet of the Rudd Labor government’s Skilling Australia for the Future policy. Skills Australia will be the provider of high-quality advice to government which will, in turn, support individual workers in obtaining higher skill levels and qualifications thus deepening the national skills base. In Tasmania, for instance, two of the state’s largest employers, the fast catamaran builders Incat and Austral Ships, are in need of trained metal fabricators and welders. Skills Australia will be able to identify this area of skills shortage and, in turn, recommend allocation of funding to requisite training courses in Tasmania and nationwide.

To cite a further example of the derision with which the former government treated the TAFE and vocational training sectors, some 325,000 potential trainees were turned away from TAFE colleges nationwide under their watch. This truly shows the abject contempt our predecessors held for getting on with the job at hand and addressing what has turned out to be a genuine limiting factor on our national economy. This new authority, Skills Australia, will work in close consultation with industry to ensure training facilities and necessary funding are pinpointed exactly where they are needed and in a timely manner to ensure that the current situation of a dearth of available and highly skilled workers is a relic of times gone by. The Rudd Labor government is, front and centre, committed to helping Australia’s industrial sector to prosper and grow—not just stagnate and wither as seemed to be the main tenet of the decade of inaction watched over by Mr Howard and his electorally-driven former coalition government.

Upon its establishment, Skills Australia will analyse and report on current and emerging skill shortages and requirements in the national economy, both in macro and sector based spheres. It will widely disseminate information from research and meetings with stakeholders that will enable businesses and workers to assess and inform their training and employment options. It will also provide government with key recommendations on potential and existing areas of skill needs to encourage an idea of where, when, how and what amount of public funds will need to be invested to strengthen relevant skill bases. Skills Australia will give advice on the allocation of 450,000 training places between establishment and 2011, ensuring government is able to rapidly convey to training providers specifically where trainees and workers with requisite skills are in demand by industry.

Existing industry skills councils will be strengthened and will advise and connect employers from industry with nationally accredited providers who will train both existing employees and those new to the workplace. The Rudd Labor government, in a departure from the previous occupants of the government benches, has already and will in future heed the advice and any warnings issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

An initial and urgent response to the current skills shortage has seen the Rudd Labor government acting with the utmost urgency to ensure 20,000 new training places will be available from April 2008 to 30 June 2008. The government has already called for expressions of interest for the provision of these places, which will be directed specifically at those looking to enter the labour market, thus stimulating workforce participation and lifting the productive capacity of Australia. In addition to this, the Skilling Australia for the Future policy will support up to 65,000 apprenticeships over the next four years.

The Rudd Labor government is also committed to moving forward the national skills agenda through the Council of Australian Governments. Through COAG, all Australian state and territory governments have agreed to work together to increase the productive capacity of the economy, address inflationary pressures and deliver higher quality services to the community. Building on the work of COAG, the Rudd Labor government has begun discussions with the state and territory systems to ensure close coordination between governments in planning for and funding growth in training and skills development. It is only with a long-term productivity agenda that we can hope to achieve simultaneously high economic growth, low unemployment and low inflation.

There are many benefits to be achieved by working together. A better return on publicly funded training investment can be expected. We can increase the capacity of enterprises to adopt high-performance work practices that increase productivity through supporting workers to realise their potential. The Skills Australia Bill is the first part of the Rudd Labor government’s policy package to address skills shortages and thus fight inflation. The Rudd Labor government is ‘skilling Australia for the future’. It is a challenging and vital plan and it requires an active contribution from all parties.

There has been support for the Rudd Labor government’s Skills Australia Bill from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which, in a press release dated 13 February 2008 and headed ‘Great potential in Skills Australia’, welcomed the introduction of this legislation and stated:

We are pleased that Skills Australia will bring together data about Australia’s skills needs from existing sources. The absence of a consistent definition for ‘skills shortages’ across Australia makes this function particularly valuable to industry.

It is only with all stakeholders actively engaged in this skills agenda that focus can be put on the end result—to increase the productive capacity of Australia’s economy via a more highly skilled and thoroughly trained workforce. The ultimate result of the creation of Skills Australia will be an industrial arena where the career aspirations and desires of workers are recognised, developed and justly rewarded. Establishing Skills Australia is the first of many steps the Rudd Labor government is taking as part of a comprehensive approach to overcoming the challenges and issues that Australia faces in securing a productive and prosperous future. I commend the bill to the Senate.