Deputy PM Richard Marles reveals immediate plan to ease workforce pressures

Australia’s acting Prime Minister says quickly training workers to fill labour shortages would be part of the new government’s immediate plan to help businesses.

It will take months before migration returns to normal, Australia’s acting Prime Minister has cautioned, as businesses cry out for help to fill labour shortages that are now driving up food prices.

In an interview with the Herald Sun, Richard Marles said expanding micro-credentials to quickly train workers to fill specific gaps for employers would be part of the new government’s immediate plan to ease workforce pressures.

And he said Victoria would again be Australia’s advanced manufacturing heartland as Labor pushed to revitalise the industry with $15bn in government support and skilled workers educated in fee-free TAFE courses.

The number of foreign students in Victoria has crashed from about 180,000 pre-pandemic to 84,000 now, while the number of working holiday makers nationwide was fewer than 31,000 in April, down from 135,000 in mid-2019.

Richard Marles with his wife Rachel Schutze and dogs Alfie and Betsy after winning the election. Picture: Mark Wilson

This has put extreme pressure on industries including hospitality and agriculture, with Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano warning workforce shortages were contributing to higher fruit and vegetable prices.

Queen Victoria Market trader Nancy Policheni pointed to price rises over the past year including iceberg lettuces increasing from $2 to $5; potatoes up from $2.50 to $3.50 per kg; broccoli up from $3.50 to $55.50 per kg; and mushrooms going from $9 to $12-14 per kg.

Mr Marles said the new government wanted migration to “get back to normal as soon as possible”.

“But it’ll be months before we get to a point where we have the same number of people coming in,” he said.

Victorian Tourism Council Industry chief Felicia Mariani said key business sectors had faced endemic labour problems for a long time that was masked by “the influx of backpackers and international students and 457 visa holders”.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles signs an official document after taking his oath in front of Governor-general David Hurley.

Mr Marles said a key lesson from the pandemic was the government’s failure to train enough Australians to fill areas of need in the workforce. He said TAFE needed to be celebrated and encouraged more in schools.

“For a whole lot of kids, this is a really good option — it’s not plan B, it’s plan A,” he said.

Micro-credentials were also part of the solution to help workers quickly shift into new roles, as long as the training put them on a pathway to more substantial qualifications.

Mr Marles said reversing a “lost decade of productivity” would also drive up wages and help alleviate the cost of living pressure facing families.

He pointed to the end of the automotive industry that had left Victoria without thousands of secure, well-paid jobs, saying Labor was focused on “revitalising Australian industry”.

“That doesn’t happen overnight but the job starts overnight,” Mr Marles said.

Richard Marles with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong.

WORKING WITH VICTORIA

The new Labor government will ensure Victoria gets its “fair share” of infrastructure funding, Mr Marles promised, although he stopped short of confirming this would be a 25 per cent cut of federal investment based on the state’s population.

He said the current level of spending was “not acceptable” as he promised far greater co-operation with the Andrews government, including to achieve “meaningful action” on a fast rail link to Geelong.

“Victoria should be able to expect more than what it’s received from the former government up until now,” Mr Marles said.

The Andrews government has also been pushing for the federal government to lift hospital funding in a 50-50 split with the states.

Mr Marles said: “We do want to be working cooperatively with the states, and we need to make sure the commonwealth is there properly supporting the states and delivering health systems.”

Richard Marles outside his Geelog electorate office.

BORDER PROTECTION

Mr Marles sent a sharp warning to people smugglers, declaring nothing would change in Australia’s strict border protection policy under the new Labor government.

The Acting Prime Minister gave the order to Border Force to continue turning back a boat of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka that was intercepted near Christmas Island on the day of the election.

He said this was “completely routine and completely consistent with what we have always said”.

“Nothing was ever going to change,” Mr Marles said.

“We are going to be strong in maintaining our border.”

The new government has ordered a review of how and why news of the boat arrival was made public by Scott Morrison on Saturday, which Mr Marles said was a “disgrace” followed by “appalling” text messages from the Liberal Party to voters about it.

“It was an act which made our borders less secure, it broadcast an incorrect and really damaging message to people smugglers,” he said.

CLIMATE AGENDA

While the Greens will likely hold the balance of power in the Senate, Mr Marles said there would be no deals on Labor’s plan to cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.

“We took a very detailed policy to the election and that’s what we will take to the parliament,” he said.

“What we said we will do is what we actually will do.”

Asked if the government would offer a future COP climate conference a higher ambition than its stated target, as Mr Morrison did last year, Mr Marles said: “The modelling indicated that (Labor’s policies) would achieve a certain outcome, and obviously we’ll see what actually does from those.”

He said Australia had an “incredible opportunity” to lead the world on renewable energy technology that the government was focused on seizing.

Originally published as Deputy PM Richard Marles reveals immediate plan to ease workforce pressures