Labor’s skills body to consult unions and bosses

Anthony Albanese’s proposed agency Jobs and Skills Australia would be legislated and take its cues directly from unions and industry, a senior Labor frontbencher has revealed.

Opposition skills spokesman Richard Marles said the new body would ‘be responsible for workforce and skills analysis for emerging and growing industries’ Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Anthony Albanese’s proposed agency Jobs and Skills Australia would be legislated and take its cues directly from unions and industry, a senior Labor frontbencher has revealed.

Opposition skills spokesman Richard Marles said the new body would “be responsible for workforce and skills analysis for emerging and growing industries”, with unions and businesses acting as “consultative part­ners” to help solve the skills crisis facing the nation.

The Opposition Leader in November alluded to the new body, which would “research workforce trends and provide impartial advice about what skills are needed now and what skills will be sought after in the future”.

Mr Marles said Jobs and Skills Australia would facilitate “a genuine partnership” between training providers, industry and the states and territories “to harness insights from industry and to ensure training is meeting not just today’s needs but to anticipate how work is changing”.

“It will work with businesses and unions on plans to improve outcomes for targeted cohorts, including in the regions,” he said in draft speech to the National Apprentice Employment Network Conference seen by The Australian.

“It will look at where demand is needed in government-­dominated industries like the NDIS, aged care and health so that proper planning happens, and the risk to service delivery or cost is reduced.”

Mr Marles said there had been “a lot of pressure” put on such sectors during the pandemic and it was clear there needed to be “proper plans” in place to address skills needs and ensure vulnerable Australians were looked after.

“Importantly, Jobs and Skills Australia will review the adequacy of the training and vocational system and be legislated, just as Infrastructure Australia was in 2008,” he said.

It follows the aged-care sector revealing that more than 140,000 shifts a week were left vacant during the height of the Omicron outbreak.

The Deputy Opposition Leader said while the Coalition had “taken steps” in the right direction by establishing a National Skills Commission, it was a “late, inadequate response”.

Peak business organisations warned of a looming skills shortage before Covid-19 hit, with the pandemic exasperating the issue after the international border was closed and migration ground to a halt.

According to a study by the Australian Human Resources Institute, the average time to hire an employee is now about 40 days, up from 33.4 days a year earlier.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert told the conference the Morrison government had invested $13bn in the skills system through the pandemic and delivered a record number of trade apprenticeships of more than 220,000.

“We will continue to invest heavily in the vocational education and training sector, as the budget will attest to, including the TAFE and the RTO system, knowing that high numbers of apprentices in 2022 are in part the result of the continuing strengthening of these insti­tutions,” Mr Robert said on Wednesday.

“A generation of scarring has been avoided, and more Australians are in work now than any time before the pandemic.”