Milestones towards the birth of the Re Generation

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Several recent government inquiries have shaped today’s critical public policy attitude to the ageing Australian workforce and the shortage of skills which threaten the unbroken 15 years of growth.

Steve Chambers reviews some of the more significant milestones.

Current Federal Government policy, in response to the danger to economic growth and social services, has been carefully forged from the results and recommendations from four major inquiries:

Intergenerational Report - Released as a 2003-04 budget paper by Treasurer Costello, May 14, 2002. The report provides a basis for considering the Commonwealth's fiscal outlook over the long term, and identifying emerging issues associated with an ageing population. http://www.budget.gov.au/2002-03/bp5/html/index.html
Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and Workforce Participation - On 14 March 2005, the Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and Workforce Participation tabled its report on the inquiry into Employment: increasing participation in paid work entitled Working for Australia's future: Increasing participation in the workforce. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ewrwp/paidwork/report.htm
The Productivity Commission - Economic Implications of an Ageing Australia Research Report - The report was released on 12 April 2005. The Commission’s independent status, and strength of its’ conclusions and recommendations, validated Government concerns and brought the issue into the media spotlight. http://www.pc.gov.au/study/ageing/finalreport/
Workforce Tomorrow - Adapting to a more diverse Australian labour market - Report, released on 24 November 2005 by the Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, shows that Australia faces a potential shortfall of 195,000 workers in five years’ time as a result of population ageing. http://www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Category/ResearchStats/LabourMarketAnalysis

These inquiries - supported and reinforced by an array of research from the ABS, Business Council of Australia, Academics, Community Services and Welfare Groups, and Unions – have helped to construct the 3-tier Government platform from which their policies are launched. This platform – known as the 3 ‘P’ strategy – is fuelled by more than $5 billion from the 2005-06 budget and will drive policy in the following areas:

Participation – Goals: to retain, attract, and compel mature age worker participation in the labour market; encourage the disabled, the long-term unemployed, and single parents to return to the work force; and incentivise employers to retain and include mature age workers in their resource strategies.
Productivity – Goal: to restructure and reform workplace relationships to enable more flexible agreements for both mature age workers and their employers.
Population – Goal: to orientate immigration intakes to help solve critical skill shortages.

Each of these initiatives have helped frame the idea behind the Re Generation, and played a role in building the concept of a National Skills Bank that is turning the traditional approach of locating skilled and talented people on its head.