State government backed plan for struggling tourism sector on the cards
Geelong and the Bellarine’s tourism body has hinted a state-government backed solution to recruit some of the 3000 workers the sector needs for summer is imminent.
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An extra 180,000 fee-free TAFE places, and employers considering candidates from Indigenous backgrounds, workers aged above 50 and those with disabilities are among solutions to widespread workforce shortages pitched at an Ocean Grove forum this week.
Providing adequate housing in areas where workers were needed was also crucial to boosting workforce numbers, the jobs and skills forum heard.
Ahead of the summer tourism boom, business manager at Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine, Brendan Sanders, also foreshadowed the imminent announcement of a partnership with the state government to fill some of the 3000 positions that the sector needed.
“We’ve got a number of key initiatives that are soon to be announced thanks to some partnership funding through the state government; some regional recovery funding,” Mr Sanders said.
“It will help. It won’t solve the problem but it is definitely going to be part of the solution.”
As workforce shortages and skills gaps continue to hamper multiple sectors across the economy, Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor and Corangamite Labor MP Libby Coker joined about 20 workforce representatives for the forum.
Industry representatives at the event included those from Barwon Health, Geelong training centre Northern Futures, manufacturer Carbon Revolution, the City of Greater Geelong, Deakin University, Gordon TAFE, the Geelong Manufacturing Council and unions.
Mr O’Connor said there were worker shortages across multiple industries.
“Registered nurses, aged care and disability care, those areas are in demand. In hospitality we have shortage of chefs. We have shortages in the trades – almost all of the traditional trades,” Mr O’Connor said.
“Almost wherever you look there, there are issues with shortages. It’s not like we can dedicate our efforts to one sector of the economy, it is across the economy.”
To meet demand, the federal government has lifted the skilled migration intake by 35,000 to 195,000 in 2022-23. It is also developing a white paper to set its legislative intentions for employment.
E-Oz Energy and Skills Australia executive officer, Mark Burgess, who represents renewable energy employer associations said Australia needed more electricians.
“Federally, the government’s announced 10,000 new energy apprentice (positions) but with current completion rates of 56 per cent it’s not going to be enough for the workforce,” Mr Burgess said.
Corangamite Labor MP Libby Coker said the government needed to assess how it could upskill workers but also how it could get the long-term unemployed into work.
“There’s definitely worker shortages, particularly in retail and tourism, but even in the manufacturing sector. We haven’t got enough people, so we need to bring more people in,” Ms Coker said.
She said Labor’s childcare policy would encourage more mothers into work by providing more subsidies to families.
Carley Brennan, community and industry engagement manager at The Gordon TAFE, said TAFEs and employers needed to improve pathways to work.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced a $19m employment package to connect workers to jobs in sectors including construction, healthcare, retail, transport and logistics.
The package will give priority to young people, women aged 45 and over and people with a disability.
It will offer paid pre-employment and work-readiness training, as well as on-the-job training.
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