Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Bill 2023. Last year the government established Jobs and Skills Australia, JSA, and the Greens worked with Labor to ensure that JSA's functions included advising on opportunities to improve employment, vocational education and training and higher education outcomes for disadvantaged cohorts, including First Nations people, people of colour, women and people with a disability. This was a really important move towards making sure employment and training opportunities were afforded to those who have historically experienced labour market disadvantage and exclusion. We also secured amendments to ensure that Jobs and Skills Australia is required to advise on pathways into vocational education and training and pathways between vocational education and training and higher education.

This bill amends the Jobs and Skills Australia Act 2022 to establish the permanent governance arrangements and functions of JSA. The bill renames the existing position of 'JSA director' to 'JSA commissioner' and provides for the appointment of up to two JSA deputy commissioners to assist the commissioner. It also creates a ministerial advisory board to advise the minister and the JSA commissioner in relation to the performance of JSA's functions. Finally, the bill expands the functions of JSA.

The Greens support this bill, but we will be moving amendments to strengthen JSA's functions in relation to outcomes for marginalised groups. Importantly, we also worked with the government to ensure that, in performing its functions, Jobs and Skills Australia consults more broadly, including with bodies representing First Nations people and migrants, because these cohorts deserve a place at the table. They have been locked out for far too long and have the right to a seat at the table. We are pleased to see that these functions remain in this bill and, therefore, make up the permanent functions of Jobs and Skills Australia.

In addition, lived experience will be one the factors that makes a member eligible for appointment to the ministerial advisory board. Equity and inclusion of diversity must be a key focus in any advice or reports prepared by JSA. And JSA must prioritise the experiences of women, First Nations people, people of colour, people with a disability, LGBTQIA+ people, long-term unemployed, migrants, unpaid carers and those in rural and regional areas. These cohorts face discrimination and marginalisation, and prioritising them means the JSA's work should include measuring current outcomes in relation to access to training opportunities and secure, well-paid employment with fair conditions. Clear and measurable targets should be set to improve these outcomes, with a particular focus on improving the access of priority cohorts to occupations where they are currently underrepresented and closing pay gaps for all priority cohorts. I will be moving a Greens amendment to make sure that is part of JSA's expanded functions. I understand that the government will support this amendment, and I thank Mr O'Connor and his office for working with us on this. We will, though, be keeping a very close eye on the development of these targets and the progress towards meeting them.

In performing its main function of advising the Minister for Skills and Training and the department on the current and emerging labour market, including workforce needs and priorities, JSA should include consideration of the quality of jobs available and what needs to be done to improve jobs, particularly for the priority cohorts I mentioned. JSA should also provide advice on reversing casualisation and how to ensure the jobs are secure, ongoing and well-paid. Clear and measurable targets should be set for high rates of secure work, with fair conditions across all sectors, because, as we all know, casual work has been a scourge in Australia for far too long. Many workers are effectively working full-time yet being denied the security and the benefits of a permanent job, including paid leave or even a clear roster. Casual work and job insecurity have meant that even many workers are living below the poverty line. The JSA should have a role in reversing this trend of casualisation and delivering workers a fairer deal. This also means that secure, long-term jobs for TAFE teachers and staff should be the norm, not an exception. Again, we believe that there should be clear and measurable targets set for high rates of secure work with fair conditions across the TAFE sector.

I want to use this opportunity to give a heartfelt thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to TAFE teachers and staff for the incredible work that they continue to do for the students, for the community and to promote public education. I hear so often from TAFE students who get so much out of the education and training that TAFE teachers and staff are so committed to. They do this work despite the fact that government after government has not only refused to adequately fund our TAFEs but have gutted the public vocational education and training system.

The Greens very strongly believe that TAFE should be the first priority for all federal funding for vocational education and training. Contestable funding is a national shame. There should be no government funding for providers that operate for private profits. Education is a public good. It should never be for profit. We need to recognise that the labour and skills shortages we are currently experiencing are partly the consequence of successive governments decimating the TAFE system—making education and training a bidding war between public and private providers, while removing essential funding from an already starving system.

The fee-free places Labor has announced are welcome as it means that these students will not incur debt just to study, but this opportunity should be afforded to all TAFE students and to all university students, so all fees should be abolished. The benefits of free TAFE, like free education at any and every level, extend well beyond the individual, benefiting society as a whole. The Greens will continue to push for this as well as for increases to youth allowance and other income support payments to above the poverty line.

It is completely unconscionable that our government is banking $20 billion in surplus and giving $313 billion to the wealthiest while leaving so many people to suffer and struggle under poverty. TAFE should be free, fully funded and properly resourced, with staff who are well-paid, valued and respected for the absolutely incredible work that they do every single day. Our second reading amendment therefore urges the government to recognise that education is a public good and to enshrine TAFE as the vocational education and training provider of choice.

I foreshadow Senator Thorpe's second reading amendment on sheet 2045, and I move the Greens's second reading amendment on sheet 2009:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate calls on the Government to:

(a) ensure that TAFE is fully funded, free and properly resourced;

(b) ensure that TAFE staff have secure, well-paid jobs and are valued and respected for the incredible work they do; and

(c) enshrine TAFE as the vocational education and training provider of choice".