Doorstop Interview, Brisbane
ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Really excited to be back in Brisbane with Minister Ros Bates and of course Tim, the new-ish CEO of TAFE Queensland, announcing what is our 19th TAFE Centre of Excellence. When we came into government, the Albanese Government as part of our work towards putting in place a National Skills Agreement, bringing together the Commonwealth and every state and territory government, notably the Queensland Government, Minister Bates, one of the commitments we made was to rebuild our VET system and put TAFE at the heart of it. And a really big part of that was putting in place these TAFE Centres of Excellence. Two already up and running with TAFE Queensland.
But today's is a really significant step forward. A significant step forward involving the joint investment of more than $73 million between the Albanese Government and the Crisafulli Government, an investment in construction technology skills. There's never been a better time than now, for anyone who's thinking about a career to pick up the tools and become a tradie. There is so much going on to meet our aspirations to build those 1.2 million homes for Australians, in particular Queenslanders. The extraordinary opportunities, the Olympics are calling out to people for careers with contribution. And this is an investment backing in those skills, backing in the high quality work that's done in TAFE Queensland each and every day, backing in Queenslanders, young and not so young to get the skills they want to do the jobs we need.
We know that for every qualified trades person, there are 2.4 houses that are going to be built. We know that these are great jobs where people can make a real contribution. We also know they're not going to come about by themselves. We've got to invest in training that next generation of tradies and to recognise that technology is changing the way this industry is working. We're not standing still. This is a commitment in TAFE with industry, with universities and other partners to make sure that those skills are remaining at the absolute cutting edge so we can meet our national objectives, and so we can continue to offer more Queenslanders more opportunities to get those skills they want to do really important work in construction.
I'm really pleased to be working on this in partnership with my ministerial colleague, Minister Bates. Ros.
ROS BATES, QUEENSLAND MINISTER FOR FINANCE, TRADE, EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING: Thank you very much. It's great to be here again today at TAFE and wonderful to have my federal colleague Minister Giles here. We've also got our CEO of TAFE Queensland, Tim Rawlings. And isn't it so great to be standing here in front of all these amazing new apprentices who are working really hard on a future to build Queensland, and we need Queensland built. As you well know, we've got the lead up to the Olympic and Paralympic games. We've got a lot of infrastructure. We need the tradies and we need to train them now. So, it's a fantastic day to be announcing another major boost for TAFE Queensland, and I've got a really simple mantra when it comes to employment and training and that is that I want Queenslanders getting skills today for the jobs of tomorrow.
This Centre of Excellence we're announcing today is going to supercharge the number of Queenslanders getting skilled through TAFE and putting them through that path, and I'm sure will be very good careers. The Crisafulli Government is delivering a plan to get more Queenslanders on the tools and to build the Queensland of the future. From our hospitals to housing to Olympic infrastructure, we have a generational pipeline of projects and we need to build the workforce today for the workforce of tomorrow. This Construction TAFE Centre of Excellence will boost productivity and grow the number of skilled workers in Queensland's building industry. And it makes it easier and faster for Queenslanders to get into construction jobs by recognising prior learning, which is really important, something that Minister Giles and myself and other skills ministers have been working on across the nation so that we can offer flexibility for training options and leverage stimulated and virtual training.
Now, this Centre of Excellence adds to what the Crisafulli Government is already delivering for construction training through more than $98 million in construction specific training initiatives, supporting more than 29,000 students, more funding for free apprenticeships for under 25s, and free construction apprenticeships for over 25s, and support for the $60 million Construction Skills Queensland Annual Training Plan. This initiative will go a long way to helping address the skills shortage that we're facing. And I tell every Queenslander who wants to play their part in helping build the state that now is the time to get involved. I'll just have to hand over to Tim. Thank you.
TIM RAWLINGS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TAFE QUEENSLAND: I’m thrilled to be here today with Minister Giles and Minister Bates for TAFE Queensland's third Centre of Excellence. It is a critical area of skills shortage in this country and in Queensland. When you live in a state like Queensland with the immense opportunities before us as outlined by the ministers, headlined by the Olympics, but also health and infrastructure as well as housing, that comes with it a huge skills challenge and shortage that we need to address.
Like the people behind me, this Centre of Excellence will train people to be the tradies of the future. TAFE Queensland has a proud history of training the tradies of the future and this is the next chapter in that journey. I really look forward to working with industry and bringing together industry, training and also applied research to have the absolute best cutting edge training we can provide, so that we can get people onto job sites sooner and into the workforce sooner, so that we can start to address those skill shortages.
I look forward to seeing the work of this and the other two Centres of Excellence in TAFE Queensland as they work through their work over the coming years.
GILES: Thanks Tim. Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST: Minister, [inaudible] in relation to the shortages [inaudible]
GILES: Look, when it comes to the shortages, I think we've got to acknowledge that these have been things that have been baking for a generation and that there isn't a silver bullet. The most important way in which we've been dealing with skills shortages across all the trades is by [indistinct] the National Skills Agreement, the first one in over a decade. That is the fundamental basis upon which the Australian Government and all state and territory governments including Queensland have been working together. That's what this is all about in terms of today's announcement. We've also got to recognise there is not a single bullet to this. What we need to do is tell a message to young people and indeed their families that there are really good jobs in the trades. That's something that I've been trying to do ever since I've been the Minister to remind people that more than four in 10 jobs that are being created in the economy right now require a trade qualification.
We've got to back that in with the support we have for apprentices, the $10,000 key housing payment to apprentices, the $5,000 to their employers. Free TAFE has played an enormous role, 742,000 enrollments already, a very large number of them right here in Queensland. The program that we'll have around Advanced Entry Trades Training dealing with some of the things that Minister Bates was just talking about, recognising there are a lot of people out there who've developed experience but not formal qualifications and trying to find it easier for them to become fully qualified tradespeople. These are some of the examples about how we have been focused as a national government working with the Crisafulli Government to make sure that we can bridge the gap and deliver the training that we need to do to enable more Queenslanders to get satisfying careers and build those homes, those hospitals and that infrastructure that this state demands and deserves.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible question]
GILES: BuildSkills, which is the Jobs and Skills Council, which looks after the construction industry, tells us that we need to find 116,000 more workers. That's a huge challenge and we're running it at full steam. As I say, there's a huge role for national leadership. There's important work being done by state governments. Minister Bates touched on some of the Queensland Government programs that they are specifically rolling out here. We know that this is a big challenge, but we're facing it very squarely head on to make sure that we can deliver the training options and incentivise both young people and their employers, their potential employers, I should say, to make sure we build that apprenticeship pipeline.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] that suggests there is a distance between [indistinct] and something like TAFE [Inaudible]
GILES: I wouldn't say fair and, in fact, I'd say one of the things that I'm really struck by, Kieran, is the number of conversations I have with people who think about how AI is changing jobs, and that's pushing towards thinking about jobs that will not be transformed in a significant manner by artificial intelligence. I remember Oscar, a plumber, telling me that he shifted from his Pilates instructor role because, as he told me very squarely, he couldn't see AI digging a hole anytime soon.
So, people are thinking about what jobs of the future looks like. I think people are aware of how fundamentally important the careers that are open to them as an electrician, as a carpenter, across all of these trades, the living they can earn. But equally importantly that sense of contribution – being able to point to a home, think about the family who are living there and say, ‘I built that, I enabled that.’
But this is a journey that we need to really keep at, because for a long time the drift had been away from these trades. Turning that around takes focus. It takes time. It requires us to listen really attentively to the voices on the ground and deliver programs that really meet the need of the moment.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
GILES: What we've tried to do with the immigration program is bring net overseas migration down – it is down significantly – and to retool that. I'm really proud of the fact that our Government delivered a record number of construction visas. There will be a role for that but, fundamentally, I'm focused on making sure that young Australians, and indeed older Australians, get the training they want to make sure that they can make these careers so they're not relying on others to do the work for them.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
GILES: I think most economists would say there's a relationship between supply and demand, and we do know that we don't have enough qualified tradespeople at the moment. That's one of the reasons why we've got all of the schemes that I was talking about now, particularly those incentives to get housing apprentices up, which has seen a really significant response – more than 23,000 signed up in just nine months. So, we know that when we get the programs right, we tell the story, we properly value the enormous contribution that trades people make. We can turn this around, but it will take sustained effort.
JOURNALIST: Finally, how much of a focus in Queensland, considering the [inaudible]
GILES: It's a pretty big focus. It's why I'm here today. It's why we've agreed with the Queensland Government to support this Centre of Excellence – because we recognise there are so many opportunities around here. I started the morning chatting to a young apprentice down in Logan and thinking about the career that he's going to have as a carpenter and then a builder. There is so many opportunities out there for young Queenslanders and Queenslanders thinking about a career change. We're determined to back them. This Centre of Excellence is a really clear statement of the investment we're making in their future and in Queensland's future.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] and possibly [inaudible] put pressure on the southern states in terms of their numbers?
GILES: My main challenge is to make sure that we’re working cooperatively as a nation. Obviously I won’t speak for the Queensland Government, but we know that there are major challenges when there are major state funded infrastructure projects – whether it's North South in Adelaide, apparently there's a stadium being built in Hobart shortly – there are all of these competing demands. Our challenge is to make sure that more Australians right around the country can contribute to these big projects and to feel that they are making a contribution, as well as making a really good living.
JOURNALIST: Minister, can you just [inaudible]
BATES: This is a fantastic story and this is why it's really important to have facilities like this. You can see the young students behind us, the apprentices, are getting hands-on experience which is really very important. And these Centres of Excellence – and we've got more to build in Queensland – are the right place to train our apprentices for future. If you are a young student or a young girl and you bring your parents to somewhere like this and you see all of the high-tech equipment that they've got, you would make the decision to actually do an apprenticeship. So, that's what we're focused on, is to make sure that we get more apprentices here in Queensland.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
BATES: I can tell you that we, commencements are important, but Queensland has had record completions, particularly in the construction industry, and we're going to continue to do that. That's why we announced the Right Skills Strategy, and we're working with the Federal Government. And Minister Giles will tell you that I make sure I get every cent that I possibly can out of the Federal Government to assist us here in Queensland so that we can have the number of apprentices and tradies that we're going to need to build all of the infrastructure for the future.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
BATES: Well, certainly we are making sure that the glide path into all of this construction is staggered – that's the Deputy Premier's role as the Minister of State Development, and certainly looking after the Olympic Games. So, we're going to make sure that we're not building things where we are doing things at the same time so we need the same group of people.
But my message to other states, and I'm sorry about the competitive federalism, that, come to Queensland. Where else would you want to be? It is the place to be. People have been moving to Queensland for years – we had a massive influx after COVID. We have got very exciting investments. As the Trade Minister, it's really exciting to be able to go overseas and, not only talk about the construction pipeline that we've got, but talk to people about getting the skills training that we need – that they can come to Queensland and learn a skill here.
JOURNALIST: What about for regional Queenslanders? That’s just [inaudible] sparky or lose a mechanic [inaudible] what about them, the regional Queenslanders?
BATES: Regional Queensland is always very important, and that's why we are investing into regional Queensland. We want to make sure that local councils for instance have the tradies that they need, that's why we invest in programs to councils so that they can train plumbers and electricians locally so that they have their own workforce.
JOURNALIST: What have you done to actually get [inaudible] workforce [inaudible]
BATES: We have VET in Schools, which is a really important program. And only last week, I announced Career Tasters, so that gives kids in the Year 10 to 12 the opportunity to try two careers as an apprentice. We have school-based apprenticeships as well. So, we're doing as much as we possibly can. But I'm very, very focused on making sure that we are not just training people to be baristas while they're doing their university degree – that we're actually training apprentices who will be being served those coffees by the baristas.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
BATES: Certainly we are doing everything we can here in Queensland to make sure that a VET apprenticeship is something that young people look forward to doing. We're doing a lot of programs where we're advertising for people to come to Queensland as well. So, we're doing as much as we possibly can. We're working closely with the Federal Government to make sure that we've got the skills for the future here in Queensland to build what we need.
JOURNALIST: Finally, Minister, just [inaudible] girls and their formal training.
BATES: I work very close with the Minister for Women and the Treasurer, for women's economic security, so that's certainly a part of what we want to do, get more women into trades. I met a young girl up in Cairns only a couple of months ago who had just finished her electrician's apprenticeship. Not only was she working in very arduous conditions up in Cairns, she was doing it with an insulin pump on her belt. So, my message to young girls is, women can do anything.