Page 1148 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 4 May 2022
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members who have come together regularly to discuss the territory’s skills and workforce needs with government; the CIT executive and board, who have been working closely with government to strengthen understanding of Canberra’s training needs today and in the years ahead; and the many participants in the regular business roundtables convened by my colleague Minister Cheyne who have provided invaluable feedback on where the current gaps and challenges are. With ambition and optimism driving our approach, we are working to ensure that every Canberran is skilled to succeed—for a great job today and a rewarding lifetime in work as our economy changes and grows.
Today I would like to briefly outline the four priorities which sit at the centre of our agenda and what we will be doing over the coming months and years to deliver these. The first of these priorities is delivering skills inclusively to provide all Canberrans with a foundation for lifelong learning. Inclusive skills development is critical to maximising workforce participation and ensuring that all Canberrans can share in our prosperity.
We want to ensure that people with disabilities and diverse backgrounds, women and carers, older people and those who have been disconnected from employment have the opportunity to participate in work to their full potential, just like other Canberrans. Making skills and training affordable, accessible and supportive will ensure that all Canberrans have the tools to join, stay connected to or rejoin the workforce.
An inclusive approach to skills and training spans foundation skills training in literacy, numeracy and digital fluency, to develop the essential skills and capabilities required to engage in lifelong learning and work; occupation-specific skilling opportunities, to support entry into the labour market and job mobility; and higher level training, to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and growth in knowledge-intensive sectors.
Skills development starts in our schools. Our curriculum must support children and young people to develop foundation skills and capabilities, deep knowledge and a love of learning. Post-school, we need to ensure that our school leavers are informed and supported to navigate a range of attractive learning pathways to prepare for the jobs of today and tomorrow. As people move through their careers and the world of work continues to change, we must also provide access to relevant, flexible and accessible opportunities for reskilling and upskilling.
Our second priority is building a more responsive, flexible and future-focused skills system. As we emerge from COVID-19, our resilience and our future prosperity depend on our capacity to skill our workforce for the jobs of the future. We must strengthen both technical skills and broader capabilities to ensure an agile and adaptive workforce and drive entrepreneurship, innovation and future growth.
As the nation’s capital, the ACT’s employment base and economy have traditionally been dominated by the government sector. But over the last decade we have seen strong growth in knowledge-intensive sectors such as professional, scientific and technical services, health care and social assistance, research and information systems.
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