PRIINMISET E
ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP,
LAUNCH OF NETTFORCE SYDNEY, THURSDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER
1994. 1 am very glad to be here.
And giad to see so many Australian companies represented here.
The CEOs outnumber the trainees and, in a way, that is appropriate, because
the driving force In vocational training is going to be private industry.
Government can provide Initiative, funds, strategies and structures.
The ommunity at large has a responsibility as I have said many times, as
the Government Employment White Paper says every Australian has a
responsibility, every Australian has an Interest In the outcome of the national
effort. But for all that government and communities and unions must do, the engine of
success will be the private sector of the economy.
For once at least, the acronym is appropriate NEiTT~ FOCE.
When we created It In Working Nation, we had force In mind.
Not brute force.
We had in a mind a body with enough skill and finesse and worldliness about it
to get results.
I think that is what we have.
The National Employment and Training Taskforce is designed for effect.
For practice rather than theory.
In the White Paper we decided in advance of all but a very few comparable
countries that we could not leave the long-term unemployed behind.
We couldn't leave them behind and still keep faith with our human and social
values our national values.
And we couldn't leave them behind and still claim that we observed principles
of rudimentary common sense.
If for rio other reason than the waste of human energy, ambition and potential, it
make-s no economic or social sense to leave the long term unemployed behind.
In the White Paper we also recognised somewhat in advance of many
comparable countries, somewhat behind others that vocational training Is not
an oprtIon for a nation In the nineties, but an Imperative.
Not a might do, or a should do but a must do.
We have set out to build a vocational training system to rank with the best in
the world.
Quite simply, we don't have a future, and the next generation will not have a
future without a first class system of vocational education not, at least, the
sort of future we want, the sort of future we have it In our power to earn.
The people who make up NETTFOROE Bert Evans, Bill Kelty, Lindsay Fox,
Ivan Deveson, Ted Wright, Joan Kimer are nothing if not practical people
with practical experience.
They are not people one associates with bureaucratic bottlenecks, or
ideological strait-jackets.
They have that In common and I know they also share a passion for their
country and faith in its future.
Bill Kelty and Lindsay Fox, of course, have recently re-affirmed that in their
extensive study of Australia's regions a landmark study whose influence can
be seen in the Regional Development policy in the White Paper.
Ted Wright, of course is the Director and General Manager of the Regent Hotel
which in part explains why this launch Is occurring in what otherwise might be
considered a somewhat incongruous place.
But the venue might be considered appropriate for another symbolic
reason.
The Regent Is an element a very successful element in the vast mosaic of
Australia's most successful growth industry.
Tourism and hospitality.
Tourism now employs nearly half a million Australians.
No industry of the last decade has grown on such a scale. None has more
potential for further growth.
And none provides more dramatic evidence of the fact that in a highly
competitive environment success depends on the quality of our human
resources on trained, skilled r~ oil
It is one of my duties today to announce the formation of a number of new
industry training companies under the umbrella of NEiTTFORCE and Tourism
Training Australia will be among the first of these.
To some extent tourism is a model of the direction Australian industry is going
towards the exploitation of our natural advantages, towards International
markets, towards ever greater levels of service and efficiency, and, I am
pleased to say, towards vocational training.
Today I think it Is worth reminding people of the size of the task we have set
ourselves. No one should underestimate the dimensions of the White Paper it is the
princi pal vehicle by which the Govemment intends to reform and invigorate the
Australian labour market.
It is the principal means by which we intend to make this an economic recovery
which reaches all Australians.
I doubt if any other country has yet produced a program as comprehensive and
ambitious as Working Nation.
Whle a number of other countries have introduced, or are considering
introducing, reforms to their labour market and training programs similar to
those in the White Paper, none has integrated them into a major reform
strategy. In thol plainest terms, the White Paper announced that the Government would
provide funding to create 50,000 new entry level training positions by 1995-96,
and find jobs under the Job Compact for over 160,000 long term unemployed
people a year.
When they do, it would be as well to understand that training is not a welfare
issue. It Is not a particularly selfless or charitable enterprise though if employers
come to it with these motives no one will complain.
Nor will anyone complain if they engage with this national effort out of a sense
of national duty or concern for the future of our children.
Success will serve those interests admirably.
But the essential truth about it Is that vocational training Is a mainstream
econoi issue.
And it is in the interests of all us government, business, unions, communities
to ongage with it.
We do know that employers' reservations about hiring the long term
unemployed can be overcome.
Last year, of the 150,000 people who gained lobs under the JobStart program,
around 70 per cent were long term unemployed.
Through the JobStart program the Government is picking up a substantial
proportion of an employer's wage bill while new employees prove themselves.
Of NETTFORCE's various roles, the most important relates to the training
wage. The training wage aims at giving the unemployed opportunities to break the
cycle of their unemployment.
The wiage has been set at between $ 125 and $ 333, depending on the workers
experience and the skill level of the job.
And we will reduce the cost to the employer further through subsidies.
For employers the training wage offers labour paid at a rate which genuinely
reflects productivity levels.
For employees, it means avoiding being trapped in low-paid jobs forever.
I cannot let pass this opportunity to urge employers to get behind the scheme.
No less, I call on the unions to recognise that our intention is not the creation of
a pool of cheap labour, but a pool of opportunities a vast and lasting pool
for their fellow Australians.
Unions and employers alike must recognise that what we are doing must be
done in a modem economy.
If we don't do it, we will fail not just ourselves but the next generation.
I know Undsay Fox and Bill Kelty have been passing on this message to their
respective constituencies.
I hope everyone else here today will follow suit.
NElTIFORCE has been created to ensure that the training system is
respornsive to industry demands and that industry is mobilised in support of this
training initiative.
NETTFORCE Is promoting the speedy recognition of training and will give
interim authorisation of training packages to underpin the new award where
there are delays.
For thea vocational training to succeed, there needs to be industry involvement
at all levels.
NETTFORCE's new training companies can help make this happen.
For those who have not heard the term before, a training company is an
" Industry company", meaning it is drawn primarily from employers and employer
groups and unions in various industries.
Each of these training companies will meet the specific needs of their industry.
They -will develop new traineeships and adapt existing traineeships to meet the
NETTFORCE requirements for implementation under the National Training
Wage. They will provide employers with one-stop shops to put together training and
industrial packages.
Among others, these companies will be established in the automotive industry,
in building and construction, manufacturing and engineering, the timber
Industry, retail, warehousing, electrical and electronic, media, arts and
enterltainment and of course tourism and hospitality.
Obviously, there are a great many people here who deserve our
congratulations for the progress that has been made so far.
From the Governments viewpoint, it is very gratifying. The indications are that
the confidence in Australian employers and unions on which these programs
have been built will be vindicated.
But none of us should be in any doubt that the story has just begun.
As I said at the beginning, so much depends on employers.
In a sense, the programs now in place provide a measure of compensation for
this. But in any event, it is in employers' own interests to take steps now to avoid
skill shortages which will Increase their costs and hold back their growth.
Equally, as a nation, if we are to improve our standard of living and maintain
our economic growth without inflation, we need to continually improve
productivity and pivotal to that is an investment in skills.
All of us here today have taken up that challenge the members of
NETTFORCE, the employers, the union representatives and not least the
young trainees.
For that I want to thank you all.
You have engaged with a great national undertaking and future generations of
Australians will have reason to thank you for it.
So It is with great pleasure and pride that I now officially launch NETTFORCE.
ENDS