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PM unveils new JobMaker plan: What we know

PM unveils new JobMaker plan. Source: Getty
PM unveils new JobMaker plan. Source: Getty

The Prime Minister has unveiled the government’s latest bid to get Australia’s economy out of “intensive care”, and create the jobs that were lost due to the coronavirus pandemic: the JobMaker plan.

“It is true that in the short term, demand stimulus by the government can boost your economy,” Scott Morrison said on Tuesday.

“That is why we have supported this as an emergency response, but it can only be temporary - at some point you’ve got to get your economy out of [the] ICU. You’ve got to get it off the medication before it becomes too accustomed to it.”

The JobMaker plan is to enact a “new sense of common purpose” through advancing Australia’s vocation skills and industrial relations sector.

“Changing Australia’s skills and training system will be a JobMaker priority for national recovery, as we look to create jobs in a labour market undergoing major change,” the Prime Minister said.

“We need Australians better trained for the jobs businesses are looking to create.”

The JobMaker plan will see the government reform the vocational education training sector by carrying out Skills Organisation Pilots designed to help the industry have a greater say in the training system.

Morrison said three pilots have already been established in the human services, digital technology and mining sectors with more to come.

A National Skills Commission has been established to provide detailed labour market analysis, including an annual report each year setting out the skill needs of Australia, replacing the existing lists for apprenticeships and skills migration, Morrison said.

On top of that, the Prime Minister said the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development was “fundamentally flawed” and needed to be changed.

“By law, the Commonwealth must hand over to the states and territories $1.5 billion in untied funding every year – with no end date and no questions asked,” Morrison said.

“The Commonwealth has no line of sight on how states use this funding. Where targets do exist, they are aspirational. If not met, there are no consequences.”

As a result, Morrison stated the government would look to increase funding transparency and performance monitoring, and better coordinate the subsidies, loans and other sources of funding, based on principles of return on investment, to make the most of the support that is being provided.

More to come.

Yahoo Finance Breakfast Club Episode 5. Source: Supplied
Yahoo Finance Breakfast Club Episode 5. Source: Supplied

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