Skills, participation and productivity were themes that ran throughout sessions at the Jobs and Skills Summit earlier this month.
Megan Lilly, Executive Director of the Ai Group Centre of Education and Training, said the need for further and additional reform around the skilling and training system was high on the agenda.
Ms Lilly, who represented Ai Group at the two-day conference in Canberra along with Chief Executive Innes Willox, was among just 140 people invited to attend.
The conference involved employer groups, unions and community organisations — as well as academics and politicians.
TAFE places
“Prime Minister Albanese, in his opening address, said: ‘We are going on a training blitz’ as he announced 180,000 fee-free TAFE places for 2023,” Ms Lilly said.
“That’s bringing forward a commitment — $1billion of additional training that we don't have now.
“These extra places will be rolled out in a fairly short period of time. We see that as a significant step, given we have a huge backlog in the need to train people.”
A major challenge will be getting teachers in the TAFE system to be able to deliver the extra training.
“We also need to find the people to train and to get them trained in the right areas,” Ms Lilly said.
“It’s a good start.”
The Commonwealth will fund half of these TAFE places, with states and territories paying the rest.
Skills sector reform
As part of a longer-term plan to address the country’s skills shortage crisis, the Commonwealth, along with states and territories, voiced its commitment to a new, five-year National Skills Agreement.
Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor has committed an extra $3.7million to the agreement, over and above what was in the previous agreement.
“The Government is really starting to show commitment to building up a training system,” Ms Lilly said.
“It needs to be built on a better level of quality and accessibility, and there is no doubt that we need to significantly improve our pipeline of skilled labor.
“It’s going to take a good decade to get that that pipeline built up sufficiently.”
Jobs and Skills Australia
The urgency of establishing Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) was raised at the Summit.
A new and independent entity funded by the Commonwealth that will engage with the states and territories, the agency will drive the country’s skilling system, including taking over the data functions of the National Skills Commission.
It will drive workforce planning and projections and the development of national skills plans.
“We have had significant gaps in our data around our workforce actuality and needs,” Ms Lilly said.
“Planning training places is extremely difficult if you can’t articulate that need clearly.”
There is a commitment to get JSA up and running before Christmas.
“We're very clear that it needs to be an industry-driven model,” Ms Lilly said.
“Being external or independent from government is important; its master is industry.
“An industry voice needs to be present at all levels in the training system, so that the first needs met are those of the student, worker and industry in a way that makes a significant difference to the system.”
Rebuilding the capability of the workforce needs to be a priority, including reform around qualifications and micro credentials.
The need to improve foundation skills in language, literacy and numeracy and digital skills was also raised at the Summit.
“It’s difficult to lift workforce participation unless you attend to those foundation skills,” Ms Lilly said.
“Many workers need further work in this area. The pandemic showed that if your digital skills are not up to speed, your employability is adversely affected.”
Apprenticeships
The change to employer incentives to take on apprentices and trainees in the last budget is problematic and not helpful for many industries and employers over time.
“In a couple of years, many employers will no longer be eligible to receive incentives, so we are working firmly with the Government to get some rectification of that,” Ms Lilly said.
“We're putting a lot of pressure on the Government because we are deeply concerned.
“The last thing we need is for the process of taking on apprentices and trainees to become more difficult and less supported.
“Overall, the Summit had a high level of engagement dialogue, and people took much optimism from it.”
Sydney Morning Herald: "Jobs summit felt like radical shift for the good" by Megan Lilly
Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at the Australian Industry Group. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a reporter, features writer, contributor and sub-editor for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK.
