The federal government’s jobs and skills summit wrapped up on Friday afternoon, after two days of meetings, panels and negotiation between employers, industry and business groups, unions and politicians.
While many of the outcomes of the summit were neatly tied up before the event, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, have trumpeted “36 concrete areas of action that will happen this year”, and a similar number of areas of further work.
Changes to migration numbers, pension rules and bargaining are among the headline agreements after the summit, but many in the government are just as enthused by what is being described as a renewed spirit of collaboration and cooperation with business and unions.
Here are some of the key takeaways.
More work for pensioners
The government will give a “one-off income credit” so people on the age and veterans pension can work and earn $4,000 more this year, before it affects their payments. It is only available until June 2023, but changes to the “income bank” will allow pensioners to earn $11,800 (up from $7,800) before the government pension is reduced.
This was a measure supported by Labor before the election, and one which the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, has called on the government to adopt.
“It’s a time limited measure that we hope spurs some additional workforce participation among older Australian workers,” Chalmers said.
Other changes will allow pensioners to remain on social security even if they earn above the income threshold. Current rules mean pensioners have to reapply regularly to keep benefits like concession cards if they exceed the income limit for 12 weeks, but the timeframe will be extended to two years.
The changes are expected to be legislated during this coming parliamentary fortnight.
Increased migration
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said the government would increase the permanent migration number for 2022-23 to 195,000 people, up from 160,000. She said the government wanted to “move away from the focus on short-term migrants, toward permanency, citizenship and nation building”, adding that 34,000 of the places would be for regional areas.
“Based on projections, this could mean thousands more nurses settling in the country this year, thousands more engineers,” she said.
Albanese said the government was still to have further discussions about the mix of places offered, such as what type of skills would be prioritised, but said increasing the number was vital to attracting more workers.
“My starting point is in favour of giving people the security that comes with a path to permanent migration, a path to being an Australian citizen,” Albanese said.
“We need to be more attractive in the global labour market for the skills that we need. One way to do that is by providing that path to permanency.”
The government is also extending how long international students can remain in Australia to work. People in “select degrees in areas of verified skill shortages” will get an extra two years of work rights, able to stay for up to six years if studying certain PhDs.
Changes to industrial relations
A number of workplace changes have been mooted by the government, and while concrete details of these are yet to be fully worked out, the employment minister, Tony Burke, has flagged further consultation will begin almost immediately.
Important announcement from the floor of the Jobs and Skills Summit – we will increase by two years post study work rights for international students who graduate from Australian universities in areas of verified skills shortage.
— Jason Clare MP (@JasonClareMP) September 2, 2022
The government has committed to legislating “flexible options for reaching agreements”, including further access to single and multi-employer arrangements, which had been raised as a sticking point for small business and some care services. What this exactly will look like is not yet clear, and some critics are already raising concerns over whether this will see strikes and industrial action across unrelated industries, despite the government saying it doesn’t want to create more conflict.
Burke also flagged changes to make the Better Off Overall test more “simple, flexible and fair”; to give the Fair Work Commission more powers to help workers and business reach agreements, and to set minimum standards in the road transport sector; and to establish a National Construction Industry Forum to address health and safety issues.
Extended paid parental leave
Albanese said extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks is “worthy of consideration”, after the Australian Council of Trade Unions and business called for the scheme to be expanded.
On Channel Nine’s Today show, the prime minister said his government was “going to have a look” at boosting the program, but didn’t give specifics.
Cooperation and collaboration
The word on everyone’s lips was “tripartite” – countless participants talking up agreements and collaboration between unions, business and government. Many ministers and senior sources privately said that they believed that a renewed sense of cooperation may end up being the real legacy of the summit, rather than any concrete policy outcomes that come from it.
Industry minister Ed Husic praised a “spirit of cooperation”; Burke spoke of the need for “a new culture of genuine good-faith negotiation”; Chalmers spoke of the “remarkable enthusiasm … for consensus and common ground”.
Many of the outcomes of the summit have only been sketched out, pending further, more intense consultation and planning; but many in the government believe the summit has got much of that work off to a good start, and will be hoping the sense of cross-party collaboration will continue long after the union leaders, CEOs, billionaires and advocates jet off from Canberra.
