RICHARD MARLES MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION, EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS AND SMALL BUSINESS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SCIENCE
MEMBER FOR CORIO

JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
 

1.7 MILLION AUSTRALIANS LOOKING FOR WORK OR MORE HOURS DESPITE SKILLS SHORTAGE
 

After eight years of Coalition cuts to TAFE and training and despite a nation-wide skills shortage, 1.7 million Australians are looking for work or more hours to pay the rent, pay for fuel, and if they can afford to, buy Christmas gifts.
 
With a Government which is preoccupied with itself and a Prime Minister who is only standing up for photo ops and not working families, too many Australians are going into Christmas and the summer holidays facing great uncertainty.
  
There are over one million Australians who are working but are looking for more hours at work to support themselves and their families.
 
At the same time, as businesses are ready to reopen, many are having the same conversation: they can’t open their doors or run at full service because there aren’t the qualified and skilled staff to employ.
 
It beggars belief that the Morrison-Joyce Government believes it is as simple as saying that ‘x’ amount of unemployed should be able to fill ‘y’ amount of jobs.
 
Australians want to be in skilled, secure, well-paying jobs but the Morrison-Joyce Government abandoned them nearly a decade ago when they ripped $3 billion out of TAFE resulting in the serious skills crisis we are facing today.
 
Only Labor will provide Australians access to free TAFE, create more university places and tackle the skill shortages that are holding back our COVID-19 comeback.
 
THURSDAY, 16 DECEMBER 2021