Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Carr, the Minister representing the Minister for Education. Can the minister inform the Senate about the causes of the skills crisis Australia now faces and about the government’s response?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McEwen for her question. It is quite clear that Australia faces a skills crisis right across the board. It is worse in some industries than in others, but the situation is bad everywhere. Everybody understands this—the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, individual business operators, and, of course, the government. The only people who do not seem to understand this are those on the opposition. The Reserve Bank warned them on 20 occasions when they were in government that the skills shortages and other capacity constraints were impeding growth and fuelling inflation. Those warnings were shrugged off by a government that had completely lost touch with reality. They were out of touch in government and they are still out of touch in opposition. How else can we explain how it is that the member for Wentworth was quoted in the Financial Review yesterday as saying that Australia does not have a chronic skills crisis? If that is the opposition’s view, then they clearly are out of touch, because that is clearly not the view that Australian business would put forward. In the latest global survey by consultants Grant Thornton International, 58 per cent of Australian businesses complained that they were being held back by skills shortages. They put us in the same league as emerging economies such as the Philippines and Thailand and way above the global average of some 37 per cent. The survey found that skills shortages were the single biggest constraint on business growth in this country. This is the same skills shortage that the opposition now says does not exist.

Indeed, how many times have they been told? As part of my experience in the Senate, some eight years ago I was part of a Senate inquiry into the quality of vocational education and training in Australia. We found that, after looking down the barrel of a serious shortage of skills in the traditional trades, the government of the day chose to do absolutely nothing. Of course, on 24 November 2007 the Australian electorate said it was time to do something about it. The then government had a long time to amend their ways and they chose not to do it.

We now have a situation where the electorate are looking for a government to meet the long-term challenges facing this country. They want a government that is able to deliver prosperity and security for working families. They are demanding action from the government and they are entitled to receive that. That is why the government is providing 450,000 extra training places, starting with 20,000 next month. There will be 65,000 extra apprenticeships, to start closing the gaps created by the previous government’s indifference.

During the Hawke-Keating years, Australia trained 137,000 apprentices a year. Under those opposite, we have only managed to train 120,000 apprentices, despite the fact that our economy and population have grown so dramatically. Unlike our predecessors, this government has a vision for the future, and skills are central to our future. We promised an education revolution and we are delivering it. Those 450,000 training places are just the beginning: we are also spending $450 million to boost early childhood learning, $2.5 billion over 10 years to build trades training centres and $1 billion on national secondary schools computer training. (Time expired)

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister also inform the Senate how the skills crisis is affecting working families?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The tragedy is that, while Australians are crying out for skilled employees, we still have some half a million men and women out of work. Thanks to the previous government’s short-term focus and lack of leadership, much of the training provided over the past decade has been inappropriate. No-one could be bothered to sit down and think about what skills were actually needed. As a result a lot of Australians have wasted their time acquiring skills they have not been able to use. Their frustration and disenchantment is understandable. When Australia needed to develop a culture of lifelong learning, the previous government discouraged people from upgrading their skills by denying them opportunities, support and a sense of direction. Those 450,000 training places that I mentioned earlier include some 175,000 places for people who are unemployed. (Time expired)