❓ Hon Donna Faragher asks about the State Training Board's role in the COVID-19 skills review. The Minister confirms the Board will be consulted and explains the review's purpose and timeline, but doesn't commit to tabling the report.
AnsweredQoN 535Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
535. Hon DONNA FARAGHER to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to the minister's
press statement entitled ''Urgent review of skills, training and
workforce development announced'', dated 21 May 2020.
(1) Does the State Training Board
have a formal role in this review; and, if not, why not?
(2) Will the minister undertake to
table a copy of the review report once it has been completed?
TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
535. Hon DONNA FARAGHER to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to the minister's
press statement entitled ''Urgent review of skills, training and
workforce development announced'', dated 21 May 2020.
(1) Does the State Training Board
have a formal role in this review; and, if not, why not?
(2) Will the minister undertake to
table a copy of the review report once it has been completed?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2) The
State Training Board will be consulted as part of the review. The review is
actually being conducted by the director general of the Department of Training
and Workforce Development, and two TAFE managing directors: Terry Durant, managing
director, South Metropolitan TAFE; and Michelle Hoad, managing director, North
Metropolitan TAFE. This is a direct result of COVID-19 and looking at the
training system and what TAFE in particular can do to assist companies'
employees who have been displaced by the
changes that have occurred in our workforce as a result of COVID-19, and to
look at what we can do very quickly to assist those people either to get
training in a new area if that is what is required, because some jobs will not
come back, or to take advantage of their existing skills and try to help them
package them into the new kind of work that will be required. That work needs
to be done very quickly.
If
the Prime Minister is to be believed, we can expect that—unless some
changes happen—a significant number of Western Australians will come off JobKeeper in September and those
on JobSeeker will have their income taken back to the level it was prior to
COVID-19. There are tens of thousands of Western Australians—I think it
is 50 000 on JobKeeper—who we need to assist either to get back to
their existing jobs or, if those jobs do not come back or are not at the same
number of hours, to reskill or package their skills in a different way. One of
the most useful levers the state government has to achieve that is the training
portfolio and, in particular, the public sector trainer TAFE, which is
everywhere across Western Australia.
I asked those three agencies to do a very
quick review of the existing capacity and to talk to all relevant stakeholders, including the State Training Board,
which, if they have not already, will be consulted as part of that review and asked to provide a report to me
by 30 June, identifying what measures industry and other stakeholders think TAFE, in particular, can do to assist
in the recovery from COVID-19 and the devastating impact it has had on
our labour market. I will give consideration of whether I will make that report
public.
(1)–(2) The
State Training Board will be consulted as part of the review. The review is
actually being conducted by the director general of the Department of Training
and Workforce Development, and two TAFE managing directors: Terry Durant, managing
director, South Metropolitan TAFE; and Michelle Hoad, managing director, North
Metropolitan TAFE. This is a direct result of COVID-19 and looking at the
training system and what TAFE in particular can do to assist companies'
employees who have been displaced by the
changes that have occurred in our workforce as a result of COVID-19, and to
look at what we can do very quickly to assist those people either to get
training in a new area if that is what is required, because some jobs will not
come back, or to take advantage of their existing skills and try to help them
package them into the new kind of work that will be required. That work needs
to be done very quickly.
If
the Prime Minister is to be believed, we can expect that—unless some
changes happen—a significant number of Western Australians will come off JobKeeper in September and those
on JobSeeker will have their income taken back to the level it was prior to
COVID-19. There are tens of thousands of Western Australians—I think it
is 50 000 on JobKeeper—who we need to assist either to get back to
their existing jobs or, if those jobs do not come back or are not at the same
number of hours, to reskill or package their skills in a different way. One of
the most useful levers the state government has to achieve that is the training
portfolio and, in particular, the public sector trainer TAFE, which is
everywhere across Western Australia.
I asked those three agencies to do a very
quick review of the existing capacity and to talk to all relevant stakeholders, including the State Training Board,
which, if they have not already, will be consulted as part of that review and asked to provide a report to me
by 30 June, identifying what measures industry and other stakeholders think TAFE, in particular, can do to assist
in the recovery from COVID-19 and the devastating impact it has had on
our labour market. I will give consideration of whether I will make that report
public.
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