Key elements of the federal government’s economic and budget agenda could be locked in place within days after Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he expects new policies to be agreed upon at the jobs and skills summit.
Ahead of the two-day summit at Parliament House that starts on Thursday, Chalmers said he expected several policy changes to be in place by the end of the year while others could find their way into coming budgets.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, previewing the jobs and skills summit, says there will be agreement in key areas.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Migration, industrial relations and skills training will dominate the talkfest which will be attended by 142 people from business, unions, academia, the community sector and the superannuation funds.
But it will also canvass ways to boost workforce participation, targeting those on the age pension, Indigenous Australians and people with disabilities.
Chalmers said he expected policy changes to be announced at the conclusion of the summit.
“What we would like to do is to agree to a handful of more-or-less immediate actions and announce them on Friday afternoon along with the areas where there’s sufficient common ground for more work to be done,” he said.
“If it plays out as we anticipate, you could expect on Friday afternoon a list of initiatives that the government will take working together with participants at the summit that could be implemented let’s say this calendar year, and then a whole bunch of areas where further work is necessary.”
An employment white paper will be produced next year based on the discussions at the summit.
Chalmers said while there was likely to be agreement in some areas, others would prove too problematic.
“We’re not naive. We know that there will be issues which are contentious, and we know that not everything that will be pitched up this week can be progressed by the government,” he said. “We’re looking for broad consensus not unanimity. We’re looking for collaboration, not conflict.”
Ahead of the summit, these are the key discussion points where there may be agreements.
Migration
Businesses and unions both agree that Australia’s permanent migration cap needs to be lifted. The Australian Council of Trade Unions wants the cap lifted from 160,000 to 200,000 places, subject to a range of conditions, while business leaders want it to rise to between 200,000 and 220,000 places for a two-year period.
Both the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Australian Industry Group indicated on Wednesday consensus seemed to have been reached at 200,000, and ACTU head Sally McManus said there was a chance of an agreement.
Speaking to ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the focus should be on the particular skills Australia would need to enhance the economy, such as those in decarbonisation, defence technology and manufacturing, rather than a number.
In agreeing to an increase in the migration cap, the ACTU wants to abolish visa conditions that tie workers to a single employer, replace single-employer sponsorships with industry-wide arrangements to address legitimate skills shortages, and lift the minimum salary for temporary skilled workers, so they’re in line with average full-time earnings. Employers oppose these conditions.
Industrial relations
The government, employers, and unions all agree the enterprise bargaining system is broken, failing to deliver pay rises to workers. Businesses and unions also agree a critical component of enterprise bargaining, the better off overall test (the BOOT), which ensures workers do not go backwards during enterprise negotiations, needs to be simplified.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has softened his previously hardline stance against any changes to the BOOT, saying this week that he was no longer ruling it out.
The ACTU has already reached an agreement with the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia to simplify the BOOT, although there is no detail on what that looks like.
Those organisations also struck an agreement to allow multi-employer bargaining, which involves a union negotiating on behalf of employees across multiple businesses in the same industry. However, other employer groups including the Australian Industry Group have taken aim at the agreement as unworkable as it would tie businesses down to unsuitable conditions.
While some employers have indicated they are open to discussions, major business groups say industry-wide bargaining would destroy employers’ abilities to reach genuine agreements with their workers.
Workforce participation
One area which is likely to get agreement is a proposal to change the age pension means test as a way to encourage older Australians back into the workforce, a policy idea that has been endorsed by the Liberal Party since losing office.
Under the current age pension income test, a single person loses 50¢ in every dollar they earn over $180 a fortnight. The current age pension is $882 a fortnight.
The National Seniors lobby group argues axing the income test for pensioners with limited assets would boost the very low proportion of older Australians who work and also deliver extra tax revenue to the budget.
In New Zealand, about a quarter of age pensioners work. In Australia, it’s about 3 per cent.
Another policy to bring forward the government’s expanded childcare subsidies to boost the workforce participation of women is unlikely.
Chalmers said there had been discussions about starting the policy earlier than July 1 next year, but despite the boost to the economy, it would also put immediate pressure on the budget.
“There is a massive multiplier effect investing in childcare. But the way that the budget rules are set up mean that we account for the cost, but not for the benefit,” he said.
Despite that, women’s workforce participation will be a central part of the two-day summit.
Vocational education/training
Every state and territory leader will be at the summit, providing scope for changes around vocational education and training.
Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor said the government is planning to make announcements around dealing with school workforce shortages that could take “immediate effect”.
He said the government also wants to work with employers, unions, universities and the VET sector as well as states and territories on longer-term skills issues.
“The reality is the way we invest in skills in this country is not sufficient to meet existing demand or even anticipate more precisely future demand,” he told ABC television.
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