Jobs summit invites issued: unions, business leaders ready to work it out

Union leaders, business chiefs and community groups from across the country will converge on Canberra ahead of Anthony Albanese’s jobs and skills forum.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Union leaders, business chiefs and community groups from across the country will converge on Canberra ahead of Anthony Albanese’s jobs and skills forum, with 33 trade union representatives ­invited to take part in the two-day summit.

The final invite list released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday features union officials from every state and territory, including representatives from the ACTU, CFMEU, AWU, TWU, AMWU, Rail, Tram and Bus Union, and Health Services Union.

About 25 industry group heads will represent hundreds of businesses, alongside BHP chief executive Mike Henry, Visy executive chairman Anthony Pratt, Telstra chair John Mullen, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, Rio Tinto boss Kellie Parker and Toll Group Express chief Christine Holgate.

Other business chiefs who made the cut include Brad Banducci (Woolworths), Steve Cain (Coles), Andrew Forrest (Fortescue Metals Group), Sam Mostyn (Chief Executive Women), Different co-founder Mina Rahakrishnan, Ramsay Health Care chief executive Carmel Monaghan, Tesla and Tech Council of Australia chair Robyn Denholm, PwC boss Tom Seymour and Arup co-chair Kate West.

Representatives from 16 community, charity and multicultural groups, 15 universities and think-tanks, five Indigenous groups, five climate change and environment organisations, two super funds and two aged-care operators will attend.

Dr Chalmers said the 142 people invited, including state, territory and local government leaders, were drawn from a “range of views and experiences to help us nut-out some of the nation’s biggest challenges”.

“While you can’t represent the full diversity of Australia with a room full of people, we’re giving as many individuals a voice through this process as we can,” he said.

After his cabinet colleagues held more than 100 roundtables across the country in recent weeks, the Treasurer said the summit “isn’t the start or the end of the conversation”.

“Despite a decade of drift, division and dysfunction, people haven’t given up hope on finding common ground,” he said.

Opposition employment spokeswoman Michaelia Cash and opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor on Wednesday will set the government six key performance indicators to deliver “tangible” results for workers and businesses. In a joint statement, Senator Cash and Mr Taylor said Mr Albanese’s pre-election promise to ­deliver full employment, real wage increases and productivity gains would be “put to the test this week”.

Despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton snubbing the summit, Senator Cash and Mr Taylor said Mr Albanese must deliver six clear outcomes to grow jobs, drive productivity and offer incentives for pensioners and older Australians to re-enter the workforce.

The Coalition’s KPIs include making it easier for small businesses to deal with rising costs and labour shortages; a clear plan on skilled migration with a focus on the regions; changes to the pension work bonus; and rejecting union demands for industry-wide bargaining and compulsory fees for non-union members.

Senator Cash said if Mr Albanese was following in the footsteps of Bob Hawke and John Curtin, “then he should be able to deliver on a series of outcomes to help this nation immediately”.