JULIA GILLARD:
Well, it's a great pleasure to be here in Western Australia today, and I've had the opportunity this morning to open two very important new training facilities. Both have been done in partnership with the Western Australian Government. One was at Challenger TAFE, the Australian Centre for Energy and Process Training, which of course is all about training people for the resource economy.
Now I've had the opportunity to open this building at Central TAFE, which is about training people for printing and for jewellery making. These are two new state-of-the-art facilities to help deal with skill shortages in Western Australia, and they demonstrate a partnership between the national Government and the Western Australian Government.
Today, too, I have signed an agreement with my state colleague, the Minister for Education, Mark McGowan. The Federal Government is determined to build skills in this country through 450,000 new training places. We know we face a skills crisis. We know that the skills crisis is putting upwards pressure on inflation and interest rates. We want to make a big, new investment in skills, with 450,000 new places. A hundred and seventy-five thousand of these will be fully funded by the Federal Government and will be to bring people into the workforce who currently aren't in the workforce and that they need more skills to get into the workforce Two hundred and seventy-five thousand of these places are for up skilling people in today's workforce.
And today I have signed an agreement, the first in the nation, with the Western Australian Government and the Minister, Mark McGowan, to pilot the first 1000 places of these 275,000 places. This is a first step in the delivery of these 275,000 places. It's another important step being taken to address the skills crisis in this country.
Western Australia is a booming economy. It's where the skill shortages are showing first and showing worst. We want to make sure we're addressing that need for skills by working in partnership with our Western Australian colleagues, and today's agreement is further evidence of that partnership working for the people of Western Australia.
QUESTION:
Would you support the importation of unskilled labour as a way of addressing the skill shortage?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, we have a skilled migration program, the 457 visa class. That has been used in Western Australia and other parts of the country to bring skilled labour when labour is short.
My colleague, the Western Australian, Chris Evans, our Minister for Immigration, has recently reviewed the Section 457 visa arrangement to make sure that it works in a more efficient manner for employers and particularly for employers with a good track record. But that is about skilled labour, not unskilled labour.
What we want to do, obviously, is lift the skills of Australians of the people who are here, and the 175,000 places, training places for people outside the workforce, are about bringing into the workforce people who need that boost to get them a job.
QUESTION:
What do you make of the state of Western Australian politics at the moment?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, look, I don't seek to comment on matters involving the Western Australian Liberal Party. I think probably Liberal Party members have been doing that at length, and I'll leave that as a matter for them.
QUESTION:
It's not just the Liberal Party, though.
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, obviously, when it comes to the WA Government, we're working strongly in partnership with the WA Government to deal with the issues which impact on this state. Skill shortages is certainly one of them, with the rapidly-growing economy you have here. And today, we've got an agreement, a first step, but an important first step in addressing that problem.
QUESTION:
What do you think of the plan by Macquarie University to make it compulsory for all undergraduate students to do volunteer work and study science and humanities subjects?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, different universities are making different choices about the best way of educating students. Of course, Macquarie University has decided to have this sense of community placement. Looking at community placement for graduates was one of the ideas that came out of the 2020 Summit, getting people who have recently graduated to work in occupations or areas of need.
Macquarie University is looking at that happening at the undergraduate level. I think whether - these are ultimately matters for the university, but I think if this program works well, it can work well to bring talented young people into community positions where they can make a real difference. With my hat as Minister for Social Inclusion on, I can imagine these young people making a real difference to some of our most disadvantaged communities.
QUESTION:
Treasury has recently knocked back a request on - by the ABC on the impact of Labor's workplace laws. Should Treasury be more open to that sort of thing?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, on Freedom of Information, this Government has done more in five months on openness and transparency than the former Howard Government did in five years. We are committed to amending the Freedom of Information laws to give the best possible access to government decision-making.
On the question of that Treasury document, that decision was made by a FOI officer in the Treasury Department. That's the proper process.
QUESTION:
If it's [indistinct] and choosing which FOI, you know…
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, these decisions are made by departmental officers, not by politicians, and that's as it should be.
QUESTION:
What about the upkeep of computers in schools? Alan Carpenter indicated last night that he wouldn't here in WA. Have you reached an agreement on that?
JULIA GILLARD:
We spoke extensively about this at our most recent meeting with education ministers from right around the country. It's called MCEETYA, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. I have an agreement with my state ministerial colleagues. We are working on the roll-out of the first $100 million of computers for secondary schools. Those computers are going into schools most in need, and we are working on a strategic partnership for the rest of the roll-out of the billion-dollar program.
This is all about working together. It's about an extra billion dollars of resources coming from the Federal Government, and we will be working with our state colleagues so the program rolls out well. But can I just remind, when I take these questions, that prior to the election of the Rudd Labor Government, schools around the country were struggling with how to put together the resources to get computers into classrooms without the benefit of federal government assistance.
Now we are answering that huge need in the community and in our schools with a billion dollars of effort from the Federal Government, which will work in partnership with our state and territory colleagues to deliver the computers in settings where they can be used.
QUESTION:
But it's not a good look for the new federalism if Mr Carpenter is ruling out so categorically paying for the maintenance.
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, I think we are working through these issues. We worked through them very constructively at the Ministerial Council Meeting on Education. Obviously, we will be working with the Premier here, with the Western Australian Government. We want to invest in computers in schools, we want to invest in trade training centres, we want to invest in our new productivity places to help with the skills crisis. These things will be rolled out in partnership.
QUESTION:
Are you concerned about the effect of Victoria's public sector pay rises on the other states?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, I note that this is an agreement obviously for Victoria. It's an agreement that the Premier says was within his target band for wage agreements in Victoria. That target band is 3.25 per cent. The Federal Government, obviously we are responsible for workplace relations laws nationally, and what we promised the Australian people and what we will deliver is a fair and balanced system.
What, of course, Australians got from the former Howard Government, from the members of the Liberal Party, was an extreme system. Australians rejected it at the last election. We're replacing it with a fair and balanced system and one which is based on enterprise bargaining. That means that wage agreements struck for one entity, whether it be teachers in Victoria or whether it be someone working in a mine here, can't flow through to other enterprises. The bargaining is enterprise based.
QUESTION:
What's your view on a plan to tax employers and employees in order to fund maternity leave?
JULIA GILLARD:
This is a submission to the Productivity Commission inquiry, which the Government has asked the Productivity Commission to conduct. The Government asked the Productivity Commission to conduct that inquiry because we want the best possible advice on the best way of helping mums and dads at the time of the birth of a child. This is a submission to that inquiry. I imagine there will be hundreds of submissions to that inquiry. Obviously, we will await the outcome of the Productivity Commission's inquiry and respond to it.
QUESTION:
But do you think it's a fairer option than the baby bonus?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, I'll repeat what I've just said. It's a submission to the inquiry. I anticipate there will be hundreds of submissions to the inquiry. The Government isn't going to be running commentary on the hundreds of submissions that will go to the inquiry. We've asked the Productivity Commission to look at this. We've asked them to look at overseas models. We've asked them to take submissions. They're doing that, and we will await the Productivity Commission's advice.
QUESTION:
There are some workers rallying today for a 50 per cent pay rise over three years. Is this too much? Would you urge constraint?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, look, I can't comment on a particular rally and a particular wages claim. I don't have the details of that. But what the Government has said and what I'm certainly happy to say to anyone is we have inherited a high inflation environment. We're dealing with the worst inflation rates in 16 years.
High inflation rates means higher interest rates. The Government is dedicated to fighting inflation. One of the things that we are asking people to consider in their workplaces is it - isn't in the interest of working families for inflation to continue. That just means their interest rates are at risk of going up, it means the things they buy in the shops are always more expensive. And so we have asked people to consider the need for restraint.
QUESTION:
Macquarie [indistinct] is it a move towards US-style generalist degrees? Isn't it forcing people to study things they wouldn't want to?
JULIA GILLARD:
Well, our vision for the university sector is that universities will define their own individual mission, and Government will work with them through purpose specific funding compacts. We have a major review of higher education in train. The Bradley Review, part of what it is doing is looking at that way of funding universities. We expect universities to continue to diversify. We expect universities to put different offerings out to students. Obviously, students have choices about which university they go to. Students who choose to study at Macquarie University will understand that that university's philosophy encompasses this community engagement. If they would prefer to study in a different way, then they obviously have choices of other universities.
QUESTION:
Are you publishing a list of the raw scores of all schools, after the national testing this year?
JULIA GILLARD:
We have got the national testing proceeding. It is very important from the point of view of Government and students and schools. We want to make sure that the information ends up at schools and in the hands of parents. We believe it is important for information to be available. We believe it is particularly important for it to be available for parents.
From the point of view of the national Government, obviously, it feeds into our discussions with the states and territories about the best way of assisting schools which may be struggling. Okay. Thank you very much.
END