Launch of the Powering Skills Organisation Workforce Plan 2025 - Parliament House, Canberra

Acknowledgements omitted

It’s my pleasure to join you this morning for the launch of Powering Skills Organisation’s 2025 Workforce Plan.

Our changing climate is one of the biggest challenges Australia, and the world, is facing.

Achieving our net zero targets and powering Australia with cheaper, cleaner, more reliable energy will require a large and highly skilled workforce.

Put simply, we need to ensure there are enough apprentices, trainers, and system capacity to see us through.

We need to ensure we are working together to progress action to achieve this, and deliver the skilled workforce required to meet this challenge.

That’s why I’m so pleased to be here today, to talk about the important work Powering Skills Organisation has done to understand and tackle the workforce, skills and training needs in the energy, gas and renewables sectors.

The clean energy transition is crucial for this nation. Getting it right will need collaboration across industry, unions and governments.

That’s because Australia’s structural shift towards a net zero economy is transforming the labour market for energy workers and other sectors — in ways unforeseen just a decade ago.

The result isn’t a standard one-dimensional labour market issue.

As the Workforce Plan notes, the net zero transition has created simultaneous challenges: a shortage of workers; and a need for workers with more diverse skills.

As with all challenges of such significance, culture, action and collaboration across industry and government will shape our response.

Jobs and Skills Australia’s Clean Energy Generation Report estimates that the biggest worker shortage will be for electricians.

Electricians will play a key role in the new economy.

We are however at risk of running short.

Around 85,000 more electricians are expected to be needed by 2050, 27 per cent more than what we’re currently projecting.

The challenge for us all is ensuring that we broaden the workforce and leverage its full potential by creating opportunities, and supporting women, First Nations people and other under-represented demographics to ensure they feel welcomed and supported in the sector.

Ongoing upskilling, training and investment in workers will be essential to meeting this challenge.

And Powering Skills Organisation will have a critical role in continuing to grow partnerships – as well as training products – that respond to these changing needs and new sectors.

To that end, the Albanese Government will contribute $20 million towards the establishment of a National Training Centre in New Energy Skills.

Once built, this will upskill over 2,000 tradespeople and apprentices each year, to be based in western Melbourne and with a national focus.

The National Training Centre will be delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government and the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre.

It includes plumbers, gasfitters, and refrigeration workers involved in the installation and maintenance of emerging energy technologies. 

Our Government is also investing $35 million for a capital and equipment investment fund to expand clean energy training capacity more broadly.

This will cover wind, solar, pumped hydro, grid battery storage, electricity networks and hydrogen, as well as key electrical and construction trades.

Funding will be directed to facilities at capacity that are preventing people from entering apprenticeships, as well as regional, rural and remote communities experiencing workforce transitions.

And we’ve put $30 million towards turbocharging the VET teacher, trainer and assessor workforce.

That’s because it should be easier for skilled professionals to move between working in industry and teaching at RTOs.

We expanded the New Energy Apprenticeship Program into the Key Apprenticeship Program with two streams: New Energy and Housing Construction. This is real support to help train tradies in the clean energy and housing construction sectors.

Apprentices commencing in high priority clean energy and housing construction occupations are eligible for up to $10,000 during their apprenticeship.

We broadened the eligibility settings for the New Energy Apprenticeships stream, to provide opportunities for more apprentices to gain meaningful experience and exposure in the clean energy sector.

PSO’s Workforce Plan notes that women make up only three per cent of energy trades workers, with lower apprentice completion and higher post-apprenticeship dropout rates than men.

Our Government is already supporting more women into clean energy and construction jobs through the Big Sister: Advanced mentoring program.

This will boost the number of women completing apprenticeships in the clean energy and construction sectors across South Australia and Western Australia.

This is funded through our Building Women’s Careers program and is in partnership with the Electrical Trades Union, who I thank for their leadership in supporting more women into the sector.

Big Sister aims to increase the rate of female apprentices by 50 per cent by 2028.

PSO has a pivotal role in helping us to understand the energy workforce, as well as ensuring existing and emerging skills and workforce needs are addressed.

Together with the other nine Jobs and Skills Councils, they are doing important work. And our Government wants to support them to do more – not only recognised by me, but also by the Treasurer in his remarks following the Economic Roundtable last week.

PSO has valuable insights into the state of the energy workforce, as well as challenges the sector faces. This includes workforce shortages, skills gaps, system capacity issues and cultural barriers.

The Workforce Plan brings these insights together and maps out evidence-based solutions.

And it wouldn’t be possible without the industry-led consultation, analysis and modelling that you’ve collected.

Importantly, this is a strategy for action, showing the significant work that is in front of us.

I applaud Powering Skills Organisation on the important work it has done to analyse these skills and workforce issues.

Thank you for your work with industry and stakeholders to develop these actions, which will strengthen the energy workforce and our skills and training system.

ENDS