I'm pleased to advise today we'll hear from great speakers who, like me, share their passion and pride for the vocational education and training sector.
We will hear how the Victorian Skills Plan can empower Victorians to attain the right skills for the right jobs so they may continue as valuable contributors to society and go on to have enriching and more rewarding lives.
I now welcome Jungala Ellis to the lectern to deliver a Welcome to Country.
Good morning all. So, yes, thanks Lisa, for the for the brief introduction. My name is Jungala Ellis. I am a proud Bunurong Traditional Custodian, but I'm also a proud Gunaikurnai Gunditjmara Yorta Yorta man on my mother’s side. I'm also a proud Bundjalung Wakka Wakka Nari Nari and Muthi Muthi man on my father's side.
All those different tribes and ancestral families pretty much cover all of Victoria, north, south, east and west, a little bit of northern New South Wales and a bit of southern Queensland. So you could say I have the eastern side of Australia pretty much covered in ancestral families.
It's always a privilege for myself to come out as a young man and give welcome the country to new faces, new places. But first and foremost, before I say anything. I just want to acknowledge respects to all my ancestors that did walk these lands for many generations before me, all my ancestors and elders that are no longer with us physically, but always walk beside me emotionally and spiritually.
I want to thank and pay my respects to all elders that are still here today, doing the immense and wonderful work that we know and love for our Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous communities, and also the young emerging leaders that are following in their footsteps.
Education for us is a big thing. As a lot of you may all know, our culture is an unwritten language, so transferring those information and education from elders to the next level of the people growing after them is how we live. And I think sitting here today at such a thing like this, you know, education is such a important aspect in life.
We come out and educate youths in our cultural ways, welcome to countries and I try and inform everybody, welcome the country's importance. They are so important to us, not only us, but also all of Australia. We try and bridge that gap and be one united and make everybody, every culture feel as welcomed as I can, especially myself.
I try and make every culture in Australia feel welcomed as much as I can on Bunurong lands. Bunurong lands is a massive area that we get to look after myself not only for a job but culturally, for my for my family as well.
Stretches of the far west to the Werribee river over in the West cuts out through the bay as far south as Wilson’s Prom back up through Drouin to the foothills of the Dandenongs and then back into a river that we call the Burung. Burung being the Yarra River.
So it's quite a vast area that I get to look after in every day aspect of work life and every day to be able to take my children out and educate them on country. So, it's a wonderful, wonderful job that I have. Showcasing our culture, sharing our knowledge of our culture. There's so much we have to learn as young men myself, but there's so much we can learn together as a as a peoples, as a united country, Australia.
There's one word that we use to welcome people in a country in Wurrung language of our people. That is Wominjeka, so I want to say Wominjeka to all of you here in the crowd today. That means welcome to every man, woman, and child. And thank you. Ultimately for having me here to welcome you on the country lands of my ancestors, the lands of my people, my family.
I just want to say again Wominjeka, thank you.
Thank you Jungala for your thoughtful and inspiring Welcome to Country. Your rich and personal messages, calls us all to reflect on the significant history and strength of all indigenous cultures. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we are all gathered. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present, and to any other elders and Koori people present here today.
I'd also like to acknowledge our distinguished guests, the Honourable Gayle Tierney MP, Member for Western Victoria, Minister for Skills and TAFE and Minister for Regional Development. Nick Staikos MP, Member for Bentleigh, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier. Tim Ada Secretary of the Department of Jobs, Skills Industry and Regions. Craig Robertson, CEO of the Victorian Skills Authority. Suzanne McKinnon, the Executive Director for engagement and Support here at Holmesglen TAFE and host of the space in which we meet today. Board members of the Victorian Skills Authority Advisory Board. Lil Healey, Deputy Secretary for Skills, Employment within the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions. Xavier Csar, Chief Executive of the Office of TAFE Coordination and Delivery. All CEOs, chairs and board members from across our TAFEs and dual sector training providers. Members of Australian Government's Jobs and Skills Councils. Members of the VSA industry advisory groups. And most importantly, all students and training practitioners here today in the room. You are really the reason we are here.
So, welcome everyone. It really is a pleasure to be here today and wonderful to see so many members from across industry and our training, a wonderful training environment across the state. It's really fantastic to see over 120 people from across all corners of a sector here today, ranging from students and their teachers to senior members within the TAFE network to current and future employers of the next generation of workers. We also have guests attending via stream broadcast. A warm welcome to you too and very importantly, the Victorian Skills Authority staff, who most of those staff are present through this medium.
But I really would like to just congratulate you on your significant work and achievements, particularly over recent months, to get us where we are today as absolutely being phenomenal. So please do enjoy this moment.
Today we are housed within Holmesglen TAFE’s simulation lab and nursing practice room located here in Melbourne's beautiful Bayside community.
This setting offers world class teaching and learning spaces, equipped with state-of-the-art technology that encourages the enrichment of young minds and a purpose-built laboratory that replicates real world health care environments.
This wonderful facility ensure students are offered the best skills and pathways into the health and care sector. I was fortunate to have a tour just now of these wonderful facilities. I can say with a sense of authority, this space is inspiring for all would-be operating theatre technicians, therapy assistants and nurses. It's a real credit to you.
I'd now like to welcome Nick Staikos, MP to say a few words. Thank you.
Thank you very much. And I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands upon which we gather and pay my respects to elders past and present.
It's my job to introduce the Minister and through all of the ministerial reshuffles over the years, there's one thing that has always remained the same, and that is that Gayle Tierney is the Minister for Skills and TAFE and I think it's because our government places a significant importance on TAFE as a medium by which we make sure that Victorians get the skills they need for a secure job.
And Minister, you've made a number of important visits to this particular TAFE Campus, and as we know, what sets this campus apart from many others across the country is that it has the Diploma of Nursing, the Bachelor of Nursing, the only TAFE institute that offers the Bachelor of Nursing and even a hospital onsite as well. So, Minister, welcome to Moorabbin and please put your hands together for the Minister, Gail Tierney.
Well, thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. It's fantastic to be with you. And I also would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are gathered here today, the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, and I pay my deepest respects to their elders, both past and present. And of course, I extend those respects to all Aboriginal people who may be joining us this morning.
I'd also like to acknowledge, of course, Nick Staikos who was an absolute warrior when it comes to coastal education and indeed the dual sector and the TAFE sector. Thank you for all the work that you do in Bentleigh and beyond. It's absolutely appreciated. To Tim Ada, the Secretary of DJSIR. To Lil Healy, the Deputy Secretary of DJSIR. To all of our TAFE network providers, universities, learned locals, union and industry representatives. To the Victorian Skills Authority. Craig obviously is here, but also a number of staff members. To all of our great teachers, our trainers and our staff. Thank you. Because you are absolutely, as Lisa said, the very reason why we are here.
So, it is great to be at Holmesglen because Holmesglen is the epitome of what we need to do in terms of workforce training and how we do it in a whole lot of ways.
So, thank you for hosting us today and showing us even the greatest facilities that you've got and the real-life simulations that take place here.
This plan is the second Victorian Skills Plan. It firmly reinforces that Victoria has set the benchmark for skills and training in Australia.
We really have reformed and united the training and skills system here in Victoria and now we're seeing a new era at a national level. Thank goodness. The power and purpose of vocational education and training cannot be underestimated, nor it can be diminished. And I'm so proud of the leadership role Victoria has played in the National Skills Agreement, which is now a reality.
The signature is still wet. It's only two weeks old, but hallelujah. It's not just a funding agreement but it sets the agenda, which is almost a replica of what we've been doing here in Victoria for the last couple of years. So, I'm really proud of everyone in this room and those that are listening in for the work that you've done because we've all acted and worked so hard as a team to get this reform up and running and you know that some of it started with the Skills First arrangements. But then of course, one of the major interventions that we made was in 2019 when we introduced free TAFE. And so why did we do it? Well, we did it because it made sense, because we needed to have a strategically fine-tuned initiative that addressed the skills shortages in this state. We knew we had to provide quality skills
and training that industry and employers needed to ensure Victoria's long-term prosperity.
Since 2019,153,000 Victorians had access to free TAFE and they have been able to save just under $400 million in tuition fees. And now free TAFE is a reality for all Australians, not just Victorians. Many of you here have played a very important role in this reform, which has workforce needs and people's aspirations at the centre of our agenda. And we know that vocational education and training is so important because we need to ensure that we have a workforce that is skilled, that is strong and is adaptable, a workforce that is available to so many industries that it's vital to our economy. As a sector, we must all stand proud
of the leadership that we have shown.
But of course, there is always so much work that still needs to be done, but we will continue to lead the way. The annual Victorian Skills Plan is critical to ensure that we have a strong, qualified and proud workforce now and into the future from the care and health sectors to the clean economy. The first Victorian Skills Plan provided training providers, employers and industry with a strong road map which I know is used by training providers and industry to ensure that we are delivering what is right and what is needed.
The plan also provided government with the right research and information so that we could respond with clear focused initiatives and of course money allocations.
The first plan has guided responses to our workforce needs, such as expanding free TAFE courses. Now it's over 80 free TAFE courses in demand careers. We're creating scholarships in nursing, midwives, and secondary school teachers. We've established the Care Economy Skills Lab right here at Holmesglen. We're expanding eligibility to free TAFE and funded training, ensuring people can retrain to get the skills that they need for the jobs that are available now and into the future.
And that is a very significant initiative. We've also produced the ten-year Clean Economy Workforce Development Strategy. We've established the Apprenticeship Workforce that is chaired by Sharan Burrow with technical expertise from Justice Ian Ross. And we're building new facilities that will soon be realised, such as TAFE campuses at Sunbury and Melton, and also, of course, the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Inclusion in Disability Health and Community Support at the Gordon. So that's not a bad piece of work for 12 months.
The first skills plan and the one we launched today stressed the importance of collaboration across the sector from TAFE to Learn Locals, universities to employees, employers and industry bodies. We must be united in our mission to deliver the very best training and skills to support our economy and society.
This year's plan clearly states that over the next three years we will need 352,000 new workers. This plan highlights the skills needed and the jobs that will be created by the Alan Labour Government. The diversity of skills is needed and it is broad and we are ensuring that we have the skilled pipeline of workers to deliver the ambitions of the government – building and upgrading schools and hospitals, delivering 800,000 new homes over the next decade
and ensuring the workforce for the State Electricity Commission and of course, the health and care sectors.
This plan also drives home our commitment to increase participation in skills and training through an inclusive approach. Our goal is to set Victoria up for the future, and that requires inclusion and participation of all Victorians in all places of all abilities and all backgrounds.
We are deeply committed to supporting First Nations people in their skills journey so they can achieve their goals. And the spirit of treaty and self-determination we understand that we need to facilitate First Nations led change in the skills system. We are determined to ensure vocational education and training reflects industry and community needs and is accessible and of the highest quality of our learners today and our workforce for the future.
We are in a dynamic, ever-changing time, and the Victorian Skills Plan is a critical tool to ensure that we are responsive and deliver quality skills and training. It is what Victorians deserve.
This plan gives a deep insight into our state in relation to our skills and training system and I am proud that Victoria is a national leader in reforming vocational education and training. We must all continue to promote the quality of VET in our schools and in our communities. Vocational education and training qualifications are valuable, and this must be heard loudly and clearly to all.
But VET is not just about delivering quals that we are familiar with. We need to beat the path to innovation. We need to beat the path to cutting edge technology. And we need to beat the path to applied research. All need to be in the vocational education and training DNA, and it needs to be driven by leaders in our sector.
This will reinforce our relevance in VET and TAFE, and it will lead to true parity, I believe, with the university sector in this country and will assist in forging a more joined up post-secondary sector that Jenny Macklin asked us to undertake. Together, we must all continue to collaborate, to ensure we deliver the skills and training in careers that support workforce demands and build our economy, enhance our lives, and contribute to our society now
and for the future.
The annual Victorian Skills Plan paves the way for this. And of course, in doing so, there's been a lot of work behind this plan and the previous plan and everything else that goes with it.
So, I'd like to personally thank Craig Robertson for his ongoing work, not just in Victoria, but also shaping the national agenda. Thank you, Craig and your team at the VSA.
To Lisa Line, who has also held strong in terms of mapping out the role and nature of the advisory, the Minister Advisory board at the VSA, and the staff that have been working around the clock to make sure that the VSA is exactly what we envisaged through the Macklin report and of course provides that fantastic architecture that will take us into the future.
And of course, all the other colleagues that have contributed to the delivery of what I think is a very fine plan and a very good path that we are to follow. So that's it for me at the moment. But before I leave, I'd like to introduce just a short video which provides an overview of the key priorities that are outlined in the second Victorian Skills Plan.
Thank you.
The Victorian Skills Plan underpins Victoria's skills roadmap. The plan covers 4 broad priorities: recognising the diversity of Victoria's employment needs, post-secondary education skills and career pathways, lifting participation and delivering the right skills for the jobs of today and tomorrow. These priorities incorporate recommendations across 6 areas for action.
- Giving learners a voice; engaging with learners to understand their aspiration and better meet their needs.
- Supporting participation; providing equitable access to education and training for all Victorians through better pathways and support will ensure no one is left behind.
- Empowering self-determination; facilitating First Nations peoples-led change in the skills system to deliver real education and training benefits in the spirit of treaty.
- Delivering higher-order skills; providing better pathways for learners to up-skill and re-skill to meet our economy's need for highly skilled workers.
- Embedding applied research into vocational education; helping our TAFEs be at the cutting-edge and empowering learners with new skills, to help our industries and communities thrive.
- Creating a more responsive system; empowering our TAFEs to be agile and responsive to emerging industry and place-based needs.
The Victorian Skills Plan supports the social and economic prosperity of Victoria.
Find out more at vic.gov.au/victorian-skills-plan
Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.
Thank you, Minister Tierney, for officially launching the Victorian Skills Plan and for sharing that impactful and uplifting video that reminds us all about the strengths of education and the power of a skills based career. I feel very fortunate to be involved. Thank you.
As we heard, the Victorian Skills Plan represents another important step towards achieving a world class skills and training system for Victoria. To hear more about the new Skills Plan for 2023 into 2024 I now welcome Craig Robertson, CEO of the Victorian Skills Authority. Thank you.
Thank you, Lisa.
And it's great to see so many people here today and those who are online.
I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners and also thank Jungala Ellis for his welcome to country here and again, I pay my respects elders past, present and those emerging leaders, including those who are with us today.
Also like to acknowledge, Minister Tierney, for your leadership in putting the VSA and the broader architecture in place. And also, thank you, Nick, for being here today to welcome us here to Moorabbin. And also, to other distinguished guests who have been introduced previously.
Last year when I spoke about the inaugural skills plan, it was about creating the impetus for stronger collaboration across the full education and training landscape from senior schooling and community-based education and training through to TAFEs and other training organisations and universities. Our second Skills Plan continues to build the skills roadmap for Victoria.
Now, for those of you who are familiar with this landscape, it could be very easy for us to develop a map more like a Melways, given the complex nature of education and training. Can you remember Melways? I'm doing an age thing here. We would like to think the Skills Plan is more like Google Maps, providing data insights and setting a framework for use by many different players. Last year we engaged deeply with industry and employers to get a sense of their skills need. This year the focus has been to place the student at the centre of our analysis because in the end it's the knowledge and skills of each individual empowered to exercise them that generates dynamic businesses and grows community. And this is important for two reasons.
We need more people in education and training to address our ongoing skills shortage. And success rests for people having higher order skills.
Our analysis shows that over two thirds of jobs require higher level skills. Now, the risk of mangling the roadmap metaphor, we can easily forget the byways and cul-de-sacs that characterise the journey of many of our students.
This is why we recommend a stronger student voice in the design of vocational education. Our offer needs to take account of the needs of industry and the aspiration of students.
Too often we think the VET qualification is a straight line to fit between what industry specifies and the job at the end. We know this is not the case even if we use our own lives as a case study. Training should be seen as a launching point for many outcomes.
My training to be a teacher has been invaluable across my career, even though I never taught. This is the reason why we call out reform to VET qualifications. We identified too many narrowly defined qualifications and roadblocks on the ladder of learning. We need people to be able to start learning at the point that suits them and continue building on that learning over their lives.
If we take account of the student, to round out the needs of businesses and unions, we will have a better workforce and community for it. This is the spirit of tripartite within which we work. At the VSA, we seek to have inclusion as the way we do things. Engaging with all perspectives enriches the outcomes we seek. Failing to do so constrains the way we think about the power of education and training to overcome.
This is a key message for Victoria's First Nations people. We seek to facilitate their self-determination in post-school education and training and for Victorians with disability. We need to engage them in design and thinking to better support their learning pathways. Not only is that the right thing to do, it results in more engaging and productive workers and a diverse workforce.
The VSA has been tasked to plan for future skills. I'm sure many of you would agree that that future is with us, with rapid expansion of renewable energy and high demand for health and care.
We often don't know what lies ahead. We are told automation will take jobs, but it will create others. This is why we have made strong recommendations to embed applied research as the way of operation for the Victorian TAFE network to ensure we are at the forefront of new technologies and industry practice. Applied research also underpins Centres of Excellence, recently agreed by the Australian and Victorian Governments. They will bring frontier skills to workers who would usually think they are the ones who miss out on advances in industry.
An applied research approach exposes students to the complexities of innovation and gives them the skills to help businesses adapt and expand. In this environment here at Holmesglen Health Campus, we celebrate and recommend applied research as the vehicle for developing and designing for future skills.
Now, the plan that you have in your packs today can't be considered in isolation. There are also two other key documents that are available on our VSA website and will be available this morning. The first is the state of the Victorian Labour Market Report and that provides an in-depth analysis of labour market trends and challenges in Victoria over the past year. And also released is the Employment Forecast Dashboard, which shows employment projections for the next three years, not only in nine regional areas, but also we have divided the metro region into five metro subregions to give a bit more area of analysis, plus you can do analysis based on industry and also upon occupation. It's a rich resource for planning that any of you are wanting to be able to do in terms of thinking about the future directions of your organisation or your industry.
So, employment is strong in Victoria. Our challenge remains to match the skills needed for an evolving Victorian economy so all Victorians can benefit. We'll continue to derive actions and recommendations to help Victoria grow and create good jobs. Before I finish today, along with the Minister, I'd also like to thank all of our stakeholders who've engaged in this process and got us to this point of being able to launch this Skills Plan.
As we've indicated through our desire for inclusion and collaboration, our objective is to hear all perspectives, and I really do want to thank everybody for their contribution in that area.
And also, a huge thank out to, thanks to all of the staff at the Victorian Skills Authority who in various ways have been bringing this plan together.
Our collective work, including the work with Lil in the Department of Job, Skills, Industry and Regions in terms of skills and employment, and with Xavier with the Office of TAFE Coordination and Delivery. Through our Industry Advisory Groups and a range of networks that we operate within is a demonstration of the power of tripartite principles of tripartite practice through government, bringing business unions and industry to work in collaboration with education and training providers, a process aiming for shared prosperity through skills.
Thanks very much.
Craig, thank you for your considered and energetic words regarding the Victorian Skills Plan. I'm proud that Victoria has set the benchmark for skills reform and that this new era invites national collaboration to achieve the skills, training and higher education that Victoria and Australia needs now and into the future. Also, thanks again to Craig's team at the Victorian Skills Authority for providing us all with a hot-off-the-press copy of the Victorian Skills Plan and Implementation Plan in the goodie bag on your seats and hopefully I'm sure you will find it a bit more interesting than the Melways.
We've heard today the sector is filled with great success stories from a broad range of students, practitioners, providers and industry organisations. So, before we finish, I'd like to mention the forthcoming Learn Local Awards on Friday, the 24th of November. This year's event will honour the success across eight distinct award categories, all filled with finalists with inspiring and uplifting stories. Perhaps you'd like to pencil in the evening now so that it's in your calendars. Look out for the email invite shortly and I look forward to celebrating success with you on the night.
Finally, for all guests in the room, I'm sorry online, but please do enjoy the catering and networking opportunities in the foyer.
And for those who are interested, Jianbo Chang, Education Manager, Diploma of Nursing, whose students are featured on the front cover of the Victorian Skills Plan, I'm sure, you will all see that in your bags, would be very happy to lead a guided tour of the world class simulation lab and nursing practice room here on this site. Nick Contradoff will be happy to direct you so you can see firsthand leading edge lecture theatres and real-life ward facilities. It really is amazing, dynamic and flexible learning spaces and a purpose-built nursing lab.
So please do avail of that opportunity before you leave. And thank you so much for joining us in the room and online today. I look forward to working with you all on the implementation of this exciting roadmap. Thank you.
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