A Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) entity has been established, Public Skills Australia, that covers the public sector, including police, fire and emergency services, defence, correctional services and government.
Public Skills Australia is one of 10 JSCs announced last December. The government set aside $402 million over four years for the JSCs to deal with skills shortages.
The other four new JSCs (which are now operational), focus on energy, gas and renewables; early educators, health and human services; arts, personal services, retail, tourism and hospitality; and finance, technology and business.
Public Skills Australia won’t focus just on the federal public service. It will also deal with issues affecting local, state and territory governments included.
For example, the new entity will look at local governments struggling to attract skilled workers and the lack of access to training.
It has seven voting members, with the Department of Defence as the only employer member.
Three industry members in the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Limited, Australia New Zealand Council of the Police Profession through the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency, and the Defence Force Welfare Association.
The three employee organisations are the CPSU State Public Sector Federation Group, the United Firefighters Union of Australia and the Police Federation of Australia.
Skills and training minister Brendan O’Connor said JSCs brought employers, unions and government together to address skill challenges.
“The JSCs will ensure we have a collaborative, tripartite skills sector that brings all parties to the table to ensure Australians are supported into decent, secure jobs now and in the years ahead,” O’Connor said.
“JSCs are crucial in making sure industry has the right skills to support a prosperous and harmonious economy.”
Workforce challenges that Public Skills Australia will focus on include upskilling in preparation for AUKUS. Twenty-thousand jobs are expected to be created from the nuclear-powered submarines acquired, with a skilled workforce necessary to go with that.
Other challenges include the ageing workforce, skills shortages and demand for STEM skills.
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