NSW Election Check: Skills, Jobs, and Employment
For those of us in NSW, we have an election coming up on 23 March, less than two weeks away! Even if you're from interstate, history shows us that some of the policy developments from the largest state in Australia have subsequent implications for the rest of the country. And it's no secret that I am passionate about all things 'workforce'. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to take stock of how skills, employment and jobs are taking shape throughout the campaign:
* Health: Labor plans to recruit more than 5,500 new nurses and midwives, 4,900 health workers and hospital staff (incl. admin), and 1,500 paramedics. They will also mandate nurse-to-patient ratios, which will put increased pressure on driving the education and supply of nurses, with an already projected shortfall of nurses exceeding 85,000 jobs by 2025. The Coalition on the other hand has committed to 8,300 frontline health workers over the next four years.
* Education: Labor has promised 5,000 extra teachers over the next four years, with the Coalition pledging 4,600. While this will meet projected demand due to population growth, further attention is needed to increase the teacher to student ratio so as to enable individualised learning under the Gonski 2.0 recommendations. Similarly, we cannot just meet capacity demand but must look to ensure we attract the right skills and subject matter expertise to the profession, and support staff to teach 'in discipline'.
* Skills: The Coalition promised almost 700,000 free TAFE and VET courses over the next four years, while Labor has committed to funding 600,000 TAFE student placements over the forward ten-year period. This is in part being driven by a need to prop-up the vocational education system (which has faced significant pressure from traditional and alternative competitors), and enabling them to fulfill a key role in the re-skilling Australians in an age of automation while continuing to maintain NSW’s service economy.
* Infrastructure: There is a significant amount of money pledged for sustaining and growing the infrastructure agenda, which really kicked off when the Baird Government came to power. This will see many new and upgraded schools, hospitals, roads, trains, public housing and, dare I say it, stadiums. A large workforce will be needed to support delivery, which will see Government continue to rely on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and the contractor workforce. With existing pressures to attract and retain local talent, agencies will need to consider alternative resourcing models and recruitment strategies to source skilled labour and manage market inflation.
Well, that’s my take on the current state of the election from my viewpoint, which has looked at all things skills and jobs. Irrespective of who wins on 23 March, we know that there is a strong need for considered workforce planning at both a departmental and system-wide level to support the delivery of the various policy platforms that drive enduring public value.