In his remarks to last week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, the prime minister highlighted the need for more Australians to learn the skills required for a rewarding career; in the room were industry leaders who had come to Canberra with a common message, their businesses are struggling to find the right type or level of skills to meet Australia’s needs.

Like most large-scale public policy challenges, solutions will need to be far reaching and move beyond the immediate, the final communique laid down some good next steps, a white paper process will follow to provide long-range options.