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The Australian Shipowners Association (ASA) engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PwC) to assess the maritime industry's contribution to the Australian economy and the potential economic impacts of tax policy changes. International capital represented by the country of ship ownership or operations is highly mobile and without an attractive fiscal regime, Australia will fail to capitalise on its natural advantage in the maritime industry and continue to lose significant economic and associated benefits to other countries.

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There is a growing recognition of the importance of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector in Australia and the role it plays in supporting children's development as well as facilitating greater workforce participation and economic engagement. Reflecting this, the Australian Government and state and territory governments are implementing the National Quality Framework (NQF) for the ECEC sector. The NQF aims to raise quality and drive continuous improvement by introducing a new nationally consistent regulatory framework for ECEC in Australia, replacing the existing separate regulatory arrangements in each jurisdiction. The purpose of this review is to: review the progress of the ECEC sector towards meeting the qualification requirements of the NQF that came into effect from 1 January 2014, particularly in relation to early childhood teachers (ECTs) and rural and remote workforces; and identify areas which require further attention so additional support can be provided. This report forms the final output for the 2013 ECEC workforce review. The report: presents and tests the feedback provided at focus groups that were conducted as part of the review; provides analysis of the data collected in the 2013 ECEC Census to validate the findings from the focus groups; comments on the preparedness of the ECEC sector for the NQF qualification requirements; comments on the extent of the progress from 2010 to 2013 towards meeting the NQF qualification requirements (by comparing the 2010 ECEC Census data to the 2013 ECEC Census); and presents suggested actions to address areas where further support could be provided.

In terms of the challenges that remain for ECEC services in meeting the NQF qualification requirements, the review identified the following key themes: the pay and conditions offered in the ECEC sector impact upon the ability of the sector to attract and retain staff; meeting the NQF qualification requirements presents more acute challenges for rural and remote ECEC services than for metropolitan services; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, particularly those in remote communities, face a range of barriers in gaining qualifications; one of the most significant barriers to educators gaining qualifications or upgrading their qualifications is the funded time available for training; there are a range of challenges that educators face which impact upon their confidence in accessing training, including confidence with technology, literacy skills and the time since formal training was last undertaken; the ECEC sector appears to be very aware of the NQF, including the qualification requirements, however, as there are a significant number of changes being introduced there is a degree of nervousness and uncertainty regarding some of the changes; and many long day care (LDC) services appear to be struggling to meet the requirements around employing staff with an ECT qualification.

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[Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 has and will continue to change the world. The hard part for any government or organisation is to understand what happens the day after tomorrow, what the exit points are for this crisis, and what it means for the tertiary education sector in a post COVID-19 economy. This snapshot from PwC Australia aims to provide clarity for tertiary education executives who are looking to make serious choices now and over the next two years about their institutions and services in a post COVID-19 Australia.

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The pharmaceutical industry in Australia is ideally placed to take advantage of global transformations in both technology and healthcare. But it needs to reimagine its traditional role in the market and ask itself where it really fits in the future business landscape. This report presents the results from the 2015 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Pharma Industry Survey.

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Following previous industrial revolutions in mechanisation, mass production and computers, the fourth industrial revolution - known as Industry 4.0 - is about the fusion of cyber-physical systems that involves digitalisation across the entire industrial value chain. It includes technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), advanced automation and robotics, 3D printing, machine-to-machine communication, digital twins and sensor technology. This report on Industry 4.0, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers at the request of Swinburne University of Technology (SUT), presents findings that include best practice workforce transformation initiatives in the advanced manufacturing sector. It arose from the work of the Industry 4.0 Advanced Manufacturing Forum workstream on test laboratories and the future of work, education and training.

The report finds industry, education, unions, peak bodies and government must collaborate to drive innovation and workforce transformation for the benefit of industry and society. Among its eight recommendations, the report proposes that new funding, delivery and accreditation models be created to support lifelong learning, reskilling and upskilling throughout the work lifecycle. It details a number of case studies and highlights international and national best practice, including SUT's Industry 4.0 apprenticeship program and national Industry 4.0 Testlabs network model that demonstrate how education, industry and government collaboration can be used effectively to co-create and develop education and research offerings that better meet future workforce requirements. The report also identifies the emerging skills needs of the manufacturing industry, such as: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT); intelligent data analytics; higher levels of digital literacy; automation; cybersecurity; and advanced cognitive skills. This will require the upskilling of existing workers for changing jobs, as well as the recruitment of new entrants to the manufacturing workforce.

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This report details the trends, demographics, challenges and successes in the volunteering sector in Australia. Volunteering Australia and [PricewaterhouseCoopers] PwC conducted a survey to analyse the current state of volunteering in Australia, and to identify opportunities to maximise the potential of the volunteer workforce. The report investigates the following questions: Are the current volunteer engagement and management practices appropriate for the future? Is there alignment between the types of roles volunteers want to undertake, the sectors they are interested in volunteering in, and the needs of volunteer involving organisations? What is the appropriate framework to support informal volunteering? What are the necessary steps that need to be taken to future proof volunteering?.

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In 2017 the Australian Government Department of Education and Training commissioned PwC to undertake research to better understand the current careers landscape, including careers support systems and issues faced by individuals in Australia trying to make informed career choices. This work aligns with vocational education reform initiatives, including the recently announced Skilling Australians Fund and Industry Specialist Mentoring program, as well as the National Career Development Strategy. This report provides a summary of the current career support system, an understanding of the high level users and their requirements, and an informed set of recommendations for how to enhance careers support in Australia.

The key message from the research is that career support needs to be delivered through a model that offers lifelong, connected and accessible support - to any and all Australians, including their network of key influencers, providers, employers and educational institutions. The research identified seven core elements that are key to such a model: (1) lifelong, that takes into consideration the whole of the person, and grows with them to accommodate new learnings and experiences; (2) connected to government, industry, local communities, and educational institutions; and is connecting - to the right people and networks as needed; (3) accessible to all people, relevant and understandable, available via multiple support channels; (4) of high quality, reliable and delivered by qualified and trained professionals; (5) tailored to the individual and their niche needs; (6) about enabling people to be work ready and supporting people to acquire work-related experience; and (7) about empowering the person to manage their career and navigate the uncertain and complex future of work.

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This review was an independent assessment of the Australian Apprenticeships Management System (AAMS) project with specific focus on areas managed by the Department as outlined in the scope. Additionally, the review identified relevant lessons learnt to inform future management of projects in the Department of Education and Training (Education). The review has been undertaken between January-March 2018 in accordance with the scope at Appendix B. The objective of the AAMS project was to replace the outdated Training and Youth Internet Management System (TYIMS) and reduce administrative burden on Network Providers thus enabling these Providers to deliver greater support services to Australian apprentices and their employers.

The objectives of this review were to: (1) conduct an independent assessment of the AAMS project with specific focus on areas including: project and contract management; stakeholder engagement and communication management; and (2) understand, document the extent to which the project had delivered against the areas within scope, reasons for non-delivery (where applicable) and identify relevant lessons learned to inform future management of projects in the department. This review was achieved by undertaking an independent assessment of the following: (a) the department's management of the AAMS project, specifically: the design/effectiveness of governance, assurance arrangements (including roles, responsibilities); the response to the issues arising from delays in delivery of the new AAMS; the appropriateness of practices and business processes to date in managing the project; and contract and vendor management practices in place with respect to managing delivery of agreed obligations and performance management; (b) the project's stakeholder engagement approach to keep stakeholders and users engaged in solution design and appraised of progress; and (c) appropriateness of communications to the Executive on the project's progress against budget, scope and benefits in accordance with the agreed decision of Government. This independent assessment identified weaknesses in practices across project governance, project management, contract and stakeholder management over the delivery of AAMS. This materially contributed to the non-delivery of the project and inability to achieve the benefits outlined in the business case. This report recommends the Department take action to strengthen its project, risk and contract management arrangements, as well as undertake an immediate review of other high priority projects to ensure practices identified by this review over AAMS are not widespread.

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For the first time, New Zealand Not-for-profit (NFP) [chief executive officers] CEOs have joined their Australian counterparts in sharing their insights in PwC's 3rd Annual Not-for-profit CEO Survey. With unemployment in Australia and New Zealand sitting at record lows and no huge influx of fresh talent in the short term despite promising indicators from the Australian Jobs and Skills Summit, there is currently a fundamental mismatch in available jobs and the skills of jobseekers to fill them. NFP leaders are also concerned about increasing cost pressures on wages and inflation, which could extend to volunteering and giving programs as household and travel costs increase. Further, no sector is immune from the movement of talent as macroeconomic factors put the squeeze on household budgets, potentially forcing employees to consider higher paid industries out of necessity rather than choice. This report explores insights under the banner of two key themes: Facing into the skills shortage and delivering in a digital world, drawing on survey results from the perspective of NFP CEOs from small to large organisations across cause areas.

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This report argues the case for growing the [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] STEM workforce and outlines some of the benefits and impacts for businesses specifically and the Australian economy broadly. It calls on business to take a leading role alongside government and the education sector in order to deliver the STEM outcome Australia needs to remain competitive, innovative and prosperous. Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling was undertaken to arrive at the conclusions contained in this report. CGE models recognise that complex macroeconomic mechanisms and inter-industry interactions exist in the economy. CGE modelling can be used to estimate the direct, indirect and induced impacts of different STEM scenarios on a national economy, including on specific industries and occupations.

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