Jobs and Skills Summit
On Monday 11 July 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that the Federal Government’s Jobs and Skills Summit will be held at Parliament House in Canberra on the 1st and 2nd of September.
The summit and a Full Employment White Paper was an election commitment from the Prime Minister and is designed to bring together key stakeholders to discuss Australia’s economic challenges.
The Summit aims to bring together unions, employers, civil society and governments to address rising inflation and interest rates, falling real wages and the trillion-dollar debt.
The Summit will cover seven focus areas:
- Keeping unemployment low, boosting productivity and lifting incomes.
- Delivering secure, well-paid jobs and strong, sustainable wage growth.
- Expanding employment opportunities for all Australians including the most disadvantaged.
- Addressing skills shortages and getting Australia’s skills mix right over the long-term
- Improving migration settings to support higher productivity and wages
- Maximising jobs and opportunities from renewable energy, tackling climate change, the digital economy, the care economy and a Future Made in Australia
- Ensuring women have equal opportunities and equal pay.
Led by the Prime Minister and Treasurer, and supported by other key ministers, the Summit will recommend immediate actions and opportunities for medium and long-term reform. Treasurer Jim Chalmers signalled that measures discussed at the forum could be implemented as early as the October federal budget.
Individual Ministers will lead particular policy areas:
- Minister Gallagher will coordinate work on the women’s labour market experiences.
- Tony Burke will coordinate job security and wages.
- Clare O’Neil will coordinate the work on migration.
- Amanda Rishworth will coordinate work on workforce participation and barriers to employment.
- Brendan O’Connor will coordinate work on skills and training.
- Ed Husic will focus on renewables, digital, manufacturing and industry
Approximately 100 attendees will be invited to the Summit in September.
The themes and outcomes of the Summit will inform the Employment White Paper, which will help shape the future of Australia’s labour market. Although Summit attendance will be limited and invitation-only, Treasury will invite submissions and engage the wider community over the next 12 months.
The goal of the Employment White Paper will be to build a better-trained and more productive workforce, boost incomes and living standards; and create more opportunities for Australians.
The Agenda for the Summit and further information on the Summit and the White Paper will be released on the Treasury website: https://treasury.gov.au/employment-whitepaper/jobs-summit
For more information, please contact Hawker Britton’s Managing Director Simon Banks on +61 419 648 587.