On 21 May 2022, the Australian Federal Government changed with the election of the Australian Labour Party. During the election campaign, the new government proposed to conduct a summit to bring together employer, business, union and government leaders to explore mechanisms to improve wages and boost productivity.
The new Government's Jobs and Skills Summit will be held on 1 and 2 September 2022 in Canberra. We have outlined what we think might come out of the Summit and what it could mean for U.S. clients with a workforce in Australia.
The Summit will explore five high-level themes:
Maintaining full employment and growing productivity
Boosting job security and wages
Lifting participation and reducing barriers to employment
Delivering a high-quality labour force through skills, training and migration
Maximising opportunities in the industries of the future
These themes are expanded upon in an Issues Paper released by Treasury last week – available here.
The Government has indicated that it will be looking to identify changes that can be made by way of legislative amendment in the short term, with the Minister for Employment publicly stating that he intends to introduce "as many measures as possible" in a single bill later in this year after the Summit.
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