The news has been increasingly bloated the last few weeks, and we want to make sure you haven’t missed out on updates from the recent Jobs and Skills Summit that might affect you! (Image source: Josh Withers)
By Dani Bozoski | @danibozoski
Over September 1 and 2, the Albanese Government gathered with unions, Australian industries, and other important stakeholders to discuss and plan important economic initiatives. These will, according to the PM and Treasurer, “help build a bigger, better trained and more productive workforce, boost real wages and living standards, and create more opportunities for more Australians”.
Their media release also emphasised that “full employment, productivity growth and equal opportunities for women are central objectives of [the Albanese Government’s] economic and fiscal policies”, prefacing the summit with a strong feminist approach.
According to the Australian Financial Review, of those that attended the summit, 36 per cent were business and industry groups, 23 per cent were unions, 20 per cent were community groups and 10 per cent were from government and academia. Union contribution and propositions were a large part of the summit; however, notably, only 14 per cent of the Australian workforce is currently unionised.
The summit resulted in 36 immediate initiatives, many of which directly affect university and other tertiary students, as well as the broader Australian youth.
TAFE and vocational studies
The summit proved to be the instigating push for a complete re-write of Australia’s vocational training structure. The government will provide “an additional $1 billion in joint Federal-State funding for fee-free TAFE in 2023 and accelerated delivery of 465,000 fee-free TAFE places”.
Not only will a large financial injection into both TAFE and other VET courses be implemented, but the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations found that over 5000 VET course units share at least 70 per cent of the same content as others. Training Minister Brendan O’Connor said, “We will work with states and territories, unions and industry to make the qualification system easier to understand”.
Gender and minority workplace rights
With gender equality at the forefront of the summit this year, there were high expectations for strong-impact initiatives that would change the game for diversity in the workplace. Highlighted initiatives included:
- Improving access to jobs and training pathways for women, First Nations people, regional Australians and culturally and linguistically diverse people, including introducing equity targets for training places, 1000 digital apprenticeships in the Australian Public Service, and other measures to reduce barriers to employment.
- Modernising Australia’s workplace relations laws, including making bargaining accessible for all workers and businesses.
- Amending the Fair Work Act to strengthen access to flexible working arrangements, make unpaid parental leave more flexible and strengthen protection for workers against discrimination and harassment.
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president, Michele O’Neil, said that halving the gender pay gap would add about $11 billion to the economy. They proposed that organisations with 20 employees or more (rather than the current 100) should report their gender pay gap to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
Migration and visas
With ongoing issues and calls for action relating to migration and work/study visas, summit discourse resulted in some highlighted initiatives for people looking to Australia for work:
- Increasing the permanent Migration Program ceiling to 195,000 in 2022-23 to help ease widespread, critical workforce shortages.
- Extending visas and relaxing work restrictions on international students to strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour, and providing additional funding to resolve the visa backlog.
However, discussion continues as the ACTU still wants to boost “local” wages before “employing migrants”. Their proposition to raise the minimum salary for temporary skilled workers from $53,900 to $92,000 was refused. It was apparent that employers do not want to lose global skill to other countries due to the ongoing visa backlog in Australia.
Other key issues that were not as thoroughly addressed at the summit have left a trail of discussion online, including more work and study rights for First Nations people, as well as people with disabilities, and people without employment.
Will these changes affect you? What are your thoughts on the recent summit? Let us know on Instagram!
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