Doorstop Interview - Adelaide

TONY ZAPPIA, MEMBER FOR MAKIN: Good morning, I'm Tony Zappia, the Federal Member for Makin. Can I say it's good to be out here on such a glorious day at the Saab facility here at Mawson Lakes with the Saab team who've just shown us through the place, but also with Ministers Andrew Giles and Blair Boyer. 

And can I say I was only here a few months ago with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles opening an extension to this facility, which speaks to the number of high-tech facilities that we're now seeing established here at Mawson Lakes, which are so important to our state's future, but our national future. 

These facilities, of course, need particular staff with specialist skills, skills that will carry us into that future and ensure that we have the workforce required to allow these kinds of companies to build up. And today, there will be some announcements made about all of that by the two Ministers behind me, and I will hand over to Blair Boyer who will start to talk about the announcement that is being made today.

BLAIR BOYER, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, TRAINING AND SKILLS: Thank you, Tony. It's fantastic to join you here and Minister Giles, and the team from Saab. It's a very exciting announcement for South Australia today. This National Security Centre of Excellence will be the second Centre of Excellence for South Australia. 

The first being Early Childhood Education and Care, of course another area of great priority for our state given the rollout of three-year-old preschool starting from next year. But today we're here to talk about national security. 

It's been a pleasure to have a tour through Saab and see some of the amazing work that occurs here and as someone who lives, like Tony, five minutes from here, and I ride the bikes with the kids behind here sometimes, and I think most members of the public would have no idea about the really advanced manufacturing and things that occur inside this building, and a lot of which gets exported right across the world. We're very lucky to have it in this area.

Today's announcement about a $28 million Centre of Excellence for National Security, which will be located at the TAFE Regency campus, I think will not only support organisations like Saab here at Mawson Lakes, but also really help us in terms of building the workforce that we need for projects like AUKUS. 

And as the Minister for Training and Skills in this state, I know that this is a concern shared by Andrew, the biggest challenge we have across all those big projects is workforce and I think, particularly in South Australia, where we are a relatively small state in terms of population and where we have a lot of big projects online at the moment – AUKUS, the New Women’s and Children's Hospital, a non-stop North-South Motorway, a second year of preschool and building thousands of new homes – they all share the same complication and challenge and that is the skilled workforce.

And there is risk that if we don't grow it from the ground up that we'll just cannibalise the workforce from each of those different projects instead of growing it, and as a [indistinct], a great opportunity for South Australians to move into defence, and this Centre of Excellence which will be at the Regency campus, part of the $28 million, co-funded half from the Federal Albanese Government and half from the Malinauskas State Government, will go towards building the facility there, so that those learning through TAFE in existing trades like electrotech and engineering will also get the chance to go through the workshop there and learn more about the artificial intelligence, the advanced manufacturing, all those kind of things which are going to be necessities now for those trades to know, if they are wanting to use their skills in the defence sector including here in South Australia.

This is a big opportunity to upskill the workforce here, to make sure that everyone can share in the benefits of having a huge project like this, and making sure it is located to go down [indistinct] the Osborne site. 

The second thing we'll do of course is it will be working nationally on the training packages in those areas, so updating those training packages. And this was the thing, I was particularly pleased and excited about with Early Childhood Education and Care Centre of Excellence, it means South Australia gets an opportunity to lead the way in that area in terms of putting forward things that we think should be priorities in terms of those training packages for early childhood workers.

One of the things we're focusing on there is in terms of better support for people studying that area to know how to care and educate young people with autism. In this case too with the National Security Centre of Excellence, it will give South Australia the opportunity to put its own flavour into training packages that will be used nationally, and really lead the way, make sure that as people are coming through in things like metal trades, engineering trades, traditional trades like electrotechnology, will have all the skills they need not just to get the job, but to be successful in the job as well.

And I really want to thank Andrew for his leadership and the Albanese Federal Government as well. Really excited, it will be 2027 that we will start to see that work and that facility hopefully complete down at Regency, what we know is we've got no time to waste, AUKUS is upon us now and I know in my work as the Minister for Education, I speak to lots of South Australian high school students but also often their parents and grandparents who are very eager to find out how their children can get those opportunities, and I think TAFE is a great way to do that. 

I'll pass over now to Andrew, and then we'll take any questions on this or anything else you might have.

ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks very much Blair. I’m really thrilled to be standing here with you and of course, my good friend, the local member, Tony here in Adelaide today on a beautiful day, and thanks to Saab for hosting us. 

It's been really instructive to see what is happening here, and to think about some of the workforce challenges that Saab is experiencing, as we think about the potential of this Centre of Excellence in National Security. 

As Blair said, this is a $28 million investment jointly, equally funded by the Albanese Labor Government federally and the Malinauskas Labor Government here in South Australia. It's our 14th TAFE Centre of Excellence now that we've announced and got up and running around the country and I just want to highlight a couple of things about that, building upon Blair’s remarks.

What this Centre of Excellence fundamentally will do is marry those technical skillsets found in the metal trades, in engineering trades, the electrical trades and some more specialised areas like computer-aided design, to some of the emerging challenges that technology is presenting and indeed the opportunities too. 

So it will marry those technical skillsets with information and national security awareness. That’s critical across all of these industries, but of course as we’ve seen here at Saab, it's particularly critical in the areas of defence manufacturing and defence industries more broadly. 

That's why it's so appropriate that we're here in South Australia to realise the extraordinary opportunities that AUKUS presents, marrying our national interest in sovereign capacity in defence industry, with the opportunities that should be available to every young person in South Australia and of course for people thinking of upskilling and re-skilling too.

I said earlier this is our 14th Centre of Excellence that we're supported under the National Skills Agreement, that partnership between the Albanese Government, every state and territory, to bridge some of those skills gaps that have been holding Australia back for so long, to enable us to focus on key issues like of course the defence industry.

The 13th Centre of Excellence which was established a couple of weeks ago and announced in the ACT, that focuses on cyber security, and that's going to be a terrific partnership I think between the expertise that's being developed and rolled out there in TAFE, Canberra Institute of Technology in Woden, and the opportunities that will be presented down the road from here at Regency, to really build an understanding of the emerging areas that technology presents, particularly with critical sectors like defence, making people can marry those highly technical skills which we know are already present across the South Australian economy, with the emerging areas of technology, and of course, some of the critical national security imperatives. 

It's really important when we think about those Centres of Excellence to really think about the partnerships that they embody.

Fundamentally there's a partnership at the outset, between the Commonwealth and the South Australian Government that is really, really strong. We can't emphasise enough, how closely I've been working with Minister Boyer on this and other issues in the skills portfolio, but the partnership has to be deeper than that, it's with industry partners like Saab, it's with universities who recognise that technological change could continue to demand us and think more deeply and differently about learning our skills challenges. 

To not stay still but to think about how the skill sets required continue to change as technological change in the industry warrant that.

So this is a really significant investment for South Australia. It's a really significant investment for our country and of course, it was really important that it happens in partnership with industry. I invite Courtney from Saab to say a few things, and I thank Courtney for the visit today.

COURTNEY MORCOMBE, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, SAAB AUSTRALIA: Saab welcomes the announcement today, the funding into the skilled workforce in South Australia. Having a local skilled workforce is really important for us to be able to maximise the defence opportunities that are on the horizon. 

Saab, defence industry in general, our supply chain, all need access to people with the right skills to be able to deliver the capability that's required by the Defence Force. But also to deliver jobs and exports for Australians.

JOURNALIST: Courtney, in terms of the skilled workforce, what are you seeing coming through at the moment, and what are your hopes this new Centre of Excellence will bring?

MORCOMBE: Saab has over 700 engineers and technicians, and there's a broad range of skills that we're needing. We've talked about a few today but across the computing, electronics, cyber, manufacturing, they are all skills that we need today, but also into the future.

JOURNALIST: When you go and look for that workforce that you need to fill those jobs, where are you looking at the moment, you mentioned, you'll be looking at local people here to fill those roles?

MORCOMBE: Saab is Australia wide. And we do look for those skills across Australia but the majority of our workers are at South Australia. That's where we primarily look to our skills base for.

JOURNALIST: We saw the Minister use a simulator before, talk us through what actually they were using, what the capabilities of Saab are when it comes to the Defence Force?

MORCOMBE: So that was the console that goes on the surface fleet for the Navy. It links the combat management system, that combat management system, which Saab delivers.

JOURNALIST: And also just talk us through what you've been demonstrating in the other area?

MORCOMBE: So that was our manufacturing workshop, where a lot of that, I guess, that hardware, is where that work’s done.

JOURNALIST: Minister, how important is this, for Regency TAFE, so they can expand to incorporate this sort of partnership, and upskill young people?

BOYER: This is really, really important. Now I'll said on a number of occasions, the Premier too, it's fantastic for us to have projects like AUKUS and all the economic opportunity that presents for our state for decades, but the real value of having more [indistinct] for South Australia is only truly realising getting as many South Australians into the jobs it creates as we can. 

That's where the value was felt including in areas like this that Tony represents. And we know that there was no shortage of interest for young people and mature age workers as well, parents and grandparents to support young people, [indistinct] between those two things is making sure they have the skills to get the job and then making sure they have the skills to succeed once they're in their job, in the world has changed drastically.

I see that as the Education Minister every day, things that were beyond science fiction when I was in primary school and are now used by kids every day. Augmented reality, artificial intelligence, it's amazing tech. 

There are downsides potentially too, including around national security, so we need to make sure that we give the skills to those people including in traditional trades, electrical trades, metalworking trades, engineering trades, do not just have the technical skills but the know-how around emerging tech as well to make sure they can play their role in the national security piece, and everyone has been down to Osborne or even here at Saab knows that security is a massive part of what we need to do.

And the whole workforce has to have an understanding of that, really proud that TAFE has a role to play in that, our training provider at Regency in making sure that we are best practice in this state in terms of the skills we are giving people, but also leading the way in terms of training packages, doing those trades, everywhere else in Australia will use as well.

JOURNALIST: Just how crucial are these roles to what’s proposed at Osborne being successful?

BOYER: It won't get done if we don't have these trades, we won't be successful with AUKUS if we don’t have the skills. The biggest challenge is the skilled workforce. 

As I said before, we’re a state with a lot of economic opportunity in front of it now, that's good because the risk, that North-South Motorway, which needs a lot of traditional trades, New Women’s and Children's Hospital, needs some traditional trades, building new homes needs traditional trades, and so does AUKUS, and the risk is if we don't grow it from the ground up, we're having one project take sparkies from another project and it just goes back and forth, we won't be successful. 

That's what happens if we're to fully realise the opportunity, we've got to grow it the ground up, and also I think provide people who are from parts of our state that have seen traditionally higher levels of unemployment, perhaps intergenerational unemployment, the change to break that cycle by getting into a job in defence, which will be there for decades, is well-paid, and is secure, this is our chance, structurally, the change, the economy and we don't want to waste it. It all starts with the workforce and making sure that we’ve got the skills and the opportunities to get those skills locally at campuses like Regency TAFE.

JOURNALIST: Big emphasis on TAFE education, are you seeing a growing demand for TAFE as the avenue for young people to get into the workforce?

BOYER: Yes, absolutely we are seeing that, that’s a pleasing thing, but I think the year before last was the first year in South Australia, that enrolments in TAFE had gone up and not down in a decade. I've been pretty frank in saying decisions of both political parties have caused that, including my own in years gone past. 

Peter Malinauskas made a commitment we’d rebuild TAFE, we are starting to really see the results of that now, enrolments up, particularly at regional campuses which I'm particularly proud of because for a lot of those regional places the only training provider they've got is TAFE, getting training provider with a physical location, it’s TAFE, I think about places like Ceduna, the APY lands and nor would I expect a for-profit or not-for-profit training providers to go out there and set up, that's why we've got TAFE and TAFE needs to be at the centre of the system and leading the way. 

That's why it's funded like it is having a part of such, a nation-building project like AUKUS I think is a really, really good thing. It'll be a beacon to other young people to say TAFE is a training provider where you can get skills in a whole range of different areas, but areas that are a huge priority for our state.

JOURNALIST: Is there room for mature age tradespeople in the industry?

BOYER: Absolutely and I think, I won’t put words in Courtney’s mouth, but I spoke to a lot of employers in these industries they are absolutely crying out for mature age workers, I think it’s something that we need to do better at, in terms of how we incentivise that for employers to take on mature age apprentices, particularly because there's a bit of a financial impediment now to do it. 

But we know that those mature workers often don't come with some of the same challenges that, early, younger age apprentices do in terms of completion rates and things like that. 

So there's a real opportunity for us there to not just make sure that these opportunities are available to younger South Australians but those older South Australians who might want to change career, have the opportunity to do it as well.

JOURNALIST: Minister is there any update you can share around the Edge child care centres?

BOYER: I don't have any updated information other than to say, it's the 14 day suspension for [indistinct] there. I've spoken to the Education Standards Board, our independent regulator about that in the last 24 hours, they monitor that situation. 

It's been made very clear to Edge what they need to do to have that emergency action notice and suspension overturned. We will wait and see. I think the regulator has shown that, unless it is completely satisfied with issues around child supervision are rectified then they won't be allowed to reopen and we are watching the other 23 sites as well. 

Edge has 24 in South Australia, it's got 75 nationally, it is a big provider. We have an enforceable undertaking in place across all 24 sites in South Australia. It's the first time that's been done where we are giving them 12 months. And some of that has already passed to improve practice at a whole range of really important areas, at the end of the 12 months, if that's not done then those other sites will face the same kind of penalties potentially that we've seen at Plympton.

I know it's inconvenient for parents. Absolutely get that, as someone who's relied heavily among daycare in the past and now relies on out of school hours care. I know that parents are in a difficult situation, trying to find alternative arrangements but I can't look those parents of the eye, if we are turning a blind eye to issues of child safety and putting convenience. 

We have to back up our words with actions. I don't think that's always been done in years gone past and that sends a really gross message through the sector that you can get away with bad practice because no one's going to come and knock on the door, unexpectedly and come and have a look at your books, your practices, we need to change that, and I think the announcement this week around the suspension for 14 days of Edge has probably sent shockwaves right through the national day care sector. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

JOURNALIST: Minister, as the Minister for Skills, what are your thoughts about Flinders University getting rid of around 30 jobs, including six marine scientists who are researching the algal bloom? They say that it's to align with state priorities.

BOYER: I might have to refer that probably to the Minister for Higher Education. Thanks everybody.