AIIA supports Prime Minister's skills announcement

FOLLOWING the latest announcements regarding investment into the current and future Australian workforce, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has welcomed the Morrison Government’s $2 billion 'JobTrainer’ plan to help school-leavers and the unemployed learn new skills.

AIIA CEO, Ron Gauci said, "The AIIA supports micro-credentialing courses and we encourage school leavers and young people to attain skills in IT and have a long and successful career in an industry where jobs are in demand - particularly key technical areas such as artificial intelligence & data, cloud computing, cyber security, automation and internet of things."

He said the AIIA also recognised the importance of gender imbalance that currently exists in STEM. As detailed in a recent set of recommendations put to Australian Government as part of the AIIA White Paper titled Building Australia’s Digital Future in a Post-COVID World, he said, the issue starts in primary learning and continues through to university where almost 80 percent of males complete a STEM qualification compared with 20 percent of women.

"The AIIA are supportive in encouraging opportunities for young women and look forward to having discussions with the National Skills Commission on this matter," Mr Gauci said.

The AIIA White Paper also made the following additional recommendations to government regarding skills shortages. AIIA is asking the government and National Skills Commission to consider:

• Updating the current JobKeeper payment scheme with a portion of the current funding allocated to training credits for employers to reskill their workforce.
• Implementing a nationally recognised lifelong learning framework with skills passport to capture digital skills across VET, University and micro-credential certifications.
• Issuing government credit to employees to promote lifelong learning and up-skilling.

Jointly funded by all levels of government, $1billion,will go towards 430,000 new training courses that meet the needs identified by the National Skills Commission. This will be led in consultation with the states and territories.

The AIIA said the ICT industry needs to be a part of these crucial conversations.

“The AIIA supports the Prime Minister’s JobTrainer announcement and are encouraged to lead an increased profile of the available IT training packages - in turn, reducing barriers of entry for potential workers into the digital economy," Mr Gauci said.

“The funding is a step in the right direction for a post-COVID recovery Australia, however we need more focus on agile training packages that are able to react faster to the emerging opportunities and new skills required for the technology industry. It is clear that the system of training to address skills needed by employers is fractured; both the policy environment and the qualification levers are siloed and inconsistent.

“We encourage an open dialogue with the National Skills Commission and ask that they work with the IT and tech industry in an effort to deliver the skills required to drive jobs in this field - effectively championing and becoming a global leader in digital sovereignty.”

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