Jobs and Skills Australia

“This is extremely important legislation. This is an extremely important institution that we are establishing today. It is an overdue reform. It is critical at this point in the economic cycle that this government prioritises significant, meaningful, substantive reform in this area.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 07 Sept 2022

“I support these bills, the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022 and the Jobs and Skills Australia (National Skills Commissioner Repeal) Bill 2022. On National TAFE Day, I want to thank the students, teachers and trainers in my electorate, particularly at places like Bundamba TAFE in the south-west. I was there last week talking to apprentices who were training as baristas, chefs, cooks, mechanics and hairdressers. I want to thank them for the work they do. It is so important in my local community.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“This is just the beginning. I could go on about the importance of skills. It's an area which is close not just to my electorate but to many electorates. It's an area where there are lots of answers, but now it's time for action. We do need to get working if we're going to address the skills crisis that we're having in our country. The crisis is a handbrake on our productivity and hurts our recovery from the pandemic. I strongly encourage everybody to support this bill and to reach out to workers and give them hope, to reach out to businesses and give them hope, that we will work with them to solve these issues.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 07 Sept 2022

“I absolutely support this bill, and I encourage the House to give it its full support.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 07 Sept 2022

“I'm excited by this legislation. It is just the beginning. It is setting up the infrastructure that will ensure a fantastic future for our country, one set by all parties in a true sense of tripartism that means everybody owns it, everybody shared in its development and everyone will want it to succeed. That is how you do inclusive government.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“It's why there is a sense of optimism and hope that the future will be better—that we will be able to provide a better future for our children—because we have a government that is committed to a strategy to make that happen. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“Ours is a government that will look to prepare Australians for the jobs of the future, to improve the quality of work and to tackle issues of underemployment, casualisation, job insecurity, long-term unemployment and stagnant wages. I certainly welcome these measures and look forward to working with all the relevant ministers and the government and helping contribute to shaping these policy frameworks, because, ultimately, they are to the benefit of the people in my electorate and to the benefit of Australia as a whole. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 07 Sept 2022

“The Albanese government, and the Prime Minister and Treasurer in particular, have shown their ability to bring people together from across our economy and society, and I commend these bills as the first step in addressing our jobs and skills shortage and allowing Australia and all of its people to achieve their full economic potential.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“I commend this Bill to the chamber.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 27 Sept 2022

“We need to start as soon as possible. They'll do that capacity study and, once this legislation is passed and Jobs and Skills Australia is created, fund that $1.9 million for the additional resourcing required. It will undertake a transitions analysis and will inform further development of any training products, career pathways and other activities to best prepare us for the future.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“I rise to speak on the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022. The coalition understands that this legislation will become law and we will be supporting the bill. However, in my second reading contribution I want to acknowledge the significant deficiencies that have become apparent in the legislation that is being looked at before the Senate.”

Liberal Party • Senator • 26 Oct 2022

“As I said earlier, we do have concerns that this legislation is nothing more than a rebranding exercise. We want to make sure that there's more substance and less spin in relation to this. The coalition are intending on supporting this legislation based on the limited information that we've been provided with. The Liberal Party understand the importance of skills to the Australian economy. We understand how transformative skills and training are to the lives and livelihoods of Australians. Certainly that's the very strong feedback that I am getting from employers, providers and students when I make my way around the Redlands.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“Although that might have political value for those on this side of the House, we actually do care about the welfare of the businesses of this country and the people that are employed in those businesses. We don't want the government to fail them. But, unfortunately, that attitude—doing things like not inviting restaurants and caterers—is absolutely failing one of the most important sectors in our economy. It's one that really struggled—probably struggled the most, with the tourism sector, of course, more broadly—through the pandemic. So they weren't welcome and their perspective, apparently, is completely irrelevant to a national jobs and skills summit. Well, let's hope that this new entity, which we're rebranding in this bill from the National Skills Commission to Jobs and Skills Australia, can convince the government—whenever they're actually formed with this other piece of legislation that isn't even ready yet to come into this chamber—and change the attitude of the government on things like that.”

Liberal Party • MP • 06 Sept 2022

“While we accept that this bill will pass, I will be keeping my eye on the details that, hopefully, will be released soon. We know just how vital jobs policy is for the strength of our economy, and I really hope this Labor government get it right for once.”

Liberal Party • MP • 07 Sept 2022

“So I do support this bill on the understanding of the need to enact an interim measure with detail on a permanent model to follow.”

Independent • MP • 07 Sept 2022

“I rise to speak today in support of the Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022. I support this bill because it will provide a plan and a road map at a time of great challenges, change and opportunity. However, in this context, as I said at the recent Jobs and Skills Summit, I am advocating for direct and achievable actions, particularly when it comes to women in the workforce. At a moment when we have more women in this parliament and indeed on this crossbench than ever before, we must not let this moment slip past with talk and without action. I, for one, will not. Empowering women to work must cut across all legislation, and all policy and legislation forthwith should include a gender impact statement. As I said at the summit, women are done with being secondary. This legislation is highly relevant to this conversation. Jobs and Skills Australia and its commissioner must be laser focused on empowering women to enter the workforce. At a time when we have chronic workforce shortages, there's no better time to finally shift this dial.”

Independent • MP • 07 Sept 2022