Federal Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, is organizing a series of roundtables this week with tech sector leaders to discuss their economic and employment challenges ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit in September.
The five roundtable discussions from Wednesday to Friday will cover the following themes:
- science and commercialization (August 17)
- digital and technical skills (17 August)
- advanced manufacturing (August 18)
- unions (August 18)
- artificial intelligence (August 19).
Husic said the input from the roundtables will help inform his contribution to the Jobs and Skills Summit in two weeks on Sept. 1-2, and he has also asked chief scientist, Dr. Cathy Foley, to drive job growth and skills development. on her regular forums that are on the doorstep. from the top.
“Access to a skilled workforce is now one of the biggest challenges to Australia’s productivity and competitiveness,” he said.
“There is a shortage of skilled workers in most industries and it is essential that we rise to the challenge of supplying the people our country needs. During these roundtables, industry leaders can share their ideas, difficulties and aspirations on how the government can work with them to find solutions.”
Minister Husic said the talks will also include ways to increase the representation of women and people from different backgrounds in skilled occupations.
“While the priority will be the education and training of the domestic workforce – for young Australians and workers seeking new careers – managing suitable skilled migration will also play an important role and be on the agenda,” he said.
“One of my priorities is ‘brain recovery’ – encouraging Australian researchers and innovators to return home. I look forward to ideas on how best to achieve this.
The roundtables will discuss, among other things, employment in the industries of the future, the skills that will be in demand and the challenges in attracting and retaining skilled workers.
“I cannot emphasize strongly enough that this is the beginning of engagement with these industry sectors,” said Husic.
“After the Jobs and Skills Summit, I will continue to work with industry leaders to ensure we adopt practical solutions to accelerate Australia’s path to a highly skilled, high-quality economy.”
The Jobs and Skills Summit in Parliament House will bring unions, employers, civil society and governments together to tackle our shared economic challenges, including skills shortages.