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The purpose of this statement is to provide an overview of the Australian government’s science and technology strategy. It sets out the major issues essential to developing the nation’s scientific and technological capacity and enhancing its contribution to meeting national needs. The strategy is presented under four broad headings: (1) the central role of science and technology in achieving national objectives; (2) management strategy (including an increase in overall funding of research and development); (3) human resources strategy (including research training); and (4) science and technology and the wider community. The government intends to increase the resources available for allocation to higher education institutions and researchers on the advice of the Australian Research Council (ARC) in consultation with the Higher Education Council (HEC). Additional funding will be provided to support research training and to open research scholarships, linking directly with industry. The health and medical research workforce will be strengthened through the provision of funding to assist young scientists transition into full independence.

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In October 1992 the Prime Minister invited the Committee to undertake an independent inquiry into a national competition policy, following the agreement by Australian Governments on the need for such a policy. This report of the inquiry reflects written submissions from nearly 150 organisations and individuals from around Australia as well as consultations with senior representatives of all Australian Governments and many industry, professional, trade union, consumer and other organisations. The inquiry found strong and widespread community support for implementing an effective national competition policy. There is a significant awareness of the opportunities such a policy offers Australia to improve international competitiveness and hence living standards. Contents: Towards a national competition policy; Part one, 'Competitive conduct rules': Overview of competitive conduct rules; Anti-competitive agreements; Misuse of market power, mergers and other rules; Scope of application: principles and issues; Scope of application: review by sectors and activity; Enforcement; Part two, 'Additional policy elements': Overview of additional policy elements; Regulatory restrictions on competition; Structural reform of public monopolies; Access to 'essential facilities'; Monopoly pricing; Competitive neutrality; Part three, 'Implementation': Institutional arrangements; Legal, transitional and resource issues. Show less

The Industry Skills Fund is a key element in the Australian Government’s National Industry Investment and Competitiveness Agenda and will provide up to 200,000 training places and support services over four years. The fund will prioritise [small and medium enterprises] SMEs, including micro businesses and will be delivered through the Single Business Service, making delivery and access simpler and more streamlined. The fund aims to assist Australian industry to access training and support services and develop innovative training solutions so Australia will have the highly skilled workforce it needs to adapt to new business growth opportunities, rapid technological change and market driven structural adjustment. The fund will commence on 1 January 2015.

This discussion paper has been developed to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to submit feedback to the Australian Government on the design and implementation arrangements for the Industry Skills Fund.

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The national strategy for vocational education and training 1998-2003 expresses the collective commitment by Australian governments, in partnership with Australian industry, to vocational education and training (VET). The strategy analyses economic, industrial and social forces for change and their implications for vocational education and training over the next five years. It sets out a vision for VET, aligned with five key objectives. These objectives are: (1) equipping Australians for the world of work; (2) enhancing mobility in the labour market; (3) achieving equitable outcomes in VET; (4) increasing investment in training; and (5) maximising the value of public vocational education and training expenditure. Show less

This paper outlines the Australian Commonwealth Government's intention to 'meet the employment, education and training demands of structural adjustment' and the ways in which this can be done. It is one of a series of documents issued by the Commonwealth in late 1987 and throughout 1988 and 1989 that connected the industrial relations and training agendas, and advocated the inclusion of TAFE in the economic reform process and the development of its responsiveness to the skill needs of employers. The paper advocates 'greater industry involvement in TAFE and more diversified arrangements for vocational education and training generally'. It also explains the implications of award restructuring for education and training, proposing that the number of job classifications and the demarcations between them be reduced to enable more broadly based training to meet Australia's changing skill needs. It also proposed the adoption of a 'competency based' approach to training and the expansion, improvement and diversification of Australia's training infrastructure by placing more emphasis on industry-based formal training provision. This was seen as a way of providing competition for TAFE and enhancing the efficiency, quality and relevance of formal training provision. Following on from the recommendations in the Australian Council of Trade Union's (ACTU's) 'Australia reconstructed' (indexed at TD/LMR 85.647), the need for direct industry investment in the education and training system is highlighted. Two possible mechanisms were identified for formalising the required increased contributions by industry to training costs: (a) acceptance by industry of responsibility to provide for the funding of increased training, particularly as part of award restructuring processes; and/or (b) the establishment, by legislation, of a framework for training funds to be financed by industry, which would also have the primary responsibility for the effective use of those funds. The paper also describes past achievement and future directions in assisting those people disadvantaged in the labour market to find employment. These areas include income support and assistance to young people, women, Indigenous people, immigrants. The Government aimed to improve the forms of assistance provided to the long-term unemployed and sole parents, and to address the education and training needs of rural Australia. The paper concludes by outlining the improved administrative arrangements that will underpin these reforms. Show less

This report of the Review of the National Innovation System recommends that steps be taken to stop the decline in Australia’s economic performance and to use the opportunity provided by the nation’s recent prosperity to develop a more innovative and productive society. The report provides the rationale for the study, noting the rapidly changing nature of innovation and highlighting the corresponding need to update Australia’s existing national innovation system and policy. A key task for the Review was to identify a set of National Innovation Priorities to complement the broad National Research Priorities already in effect. To this end, the Review Panel engaged in widespread consultation with industry groups and other parties around the country, and used this intelligence to identify areas for attention in terms of those under the direct control of the public sector and those whereby public innovation could overlap with complementary private sector innovative efforts. To manage and coordinate these priorities with those for research in public innovation programs, it is recommended that the proposed new National Innovation Council (NIC) be charged with ongoing evaluation and identification of synergies across programs. The Review process revealed shortcomings in the institutional framework that underpins the innovation system. The Review has recommended the following actions: (1) the creation of a ‘central brain’, the NIC, to achieve the coherence, flexibility and responsiveness necessary for effective innovation policy; (2) a framework of principles for innovation interventions for adoption by federal, state and territory governments to maximise the impact of public investment in innovation; and (3) the establishment of a National Centre for Innovation Research to enhance the rigorous and consistent evaluation of innovation programs. Show less

In a changing global economy, Australian firms face many challenges and new opportunities. This plan will help firms meet these challenges head on and take full advantage of opportunities to grow and create new jobs. This will ensure all Australians have the chance to work in more rewarding and high-skilled jobs now and in the future. The plan sets out: what can be done now to get more work for Australian firms; what must be done to ensure that Australian businesses have greater opportunities to win work abroad including in the Asia-Pacific region; and what should be done to ensure that the high skill jobs of the future can be created.

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In 1988, the then Minister for Employment, Education and Training, the Hon J. S. Dawkins, released a discussion paper, 'Industry training and Australia: the need for change' (indexed at TD/LMR 85.664). The aim of this paper was to provoke debate on measures both to improve the quality of training and to increase the amount of training being undertaken. The Employment and Skills Formation Council (ESFC) of the National Board of Employment, Education and Training (NBEET) was charged with providing an interim report by 5 May 1989 on the outcomes of the consultations to date.

This interim report aims to both summarise the views expressed during the consultation process and highlight the reforms which ESFC believes are required in the training system. The structure of the report is as follows. Chapter two provides a summary of the discussion paper and establishes the context in which the report was written. This includes a discussion of the pressures necessitating reform of the training system. Chapter three summarises the main issues as expressed in the written submissions and discussions, and assesses recent developments in industry training. Chapter four presents ESFC's advice on the direction of future reforms. Issues discussed include measures to improve the quality and responsiveness of the education and training system, measures to improve access to training for women and disadvantaged groups and the funding of an expanded and improved training system. Conclusions are presented in the final chapter.

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This Senate Committee report is based on the premise that employers, unions and educators agree that Australia is facing some serious skills shortfalls which are set to worsen over the next decade without appropriate action. The first chapter gives the background to the report, the terms of reference of the enquiry and an overview of the issues. Chapter two looks at skills shortfalls and future skill needs, concluding that there is a necessity for the development of a more integrated approach to collection and dissemination of information on current and future skill needs. Chapter three looks at whether current policy is promoting the development of both high level and intermediate level skills, the nexus between the labour market and skill formation and the Job Network. The chapter concludes that the present approach to skill formation is not well suited to labour market conditions. Chapter four focuses on the current vocational education and training (VET) policy settings, funding arrangements and institutional framework for meeting Australia’s current funding levels and future skill needs. Of concern is that the current funding models and reporting and accountability functions of the VET system are not compatible with the objectives of development of a high skill workforce, promotion of innovation and the development of a quality, responsive system that can provide diverse responses to skill needs. Chapter five suggests that multiple training pathways are important to cater for diversity in both the individual and the work environment and examines some of the current arrangements for providing individuals and industries with seamless pathways for skill formation. The final chapter has two main themes: (1) the role of industry in identifying and responding to the skill needs of its workforce; and (2) the need for a policy framework that promotes greater industry responsibility for training its workforce, touching briefly on the need for consultative arrangements within the training system to include the full range of stakeholders. Show less

In 1990, the Australian government implemented an employer training levy, the Training Guarantee scheme, that required Australian enterprises to contribute some of their income to employee training or a government fund for the development of training programs. The Training Guarantee was suspended on 1 July 1994 and abolished in 1996 after much negative publicity about its impact, particularly on small business. This two-volume evaluation report examines the effectiveness of the Training Guarantee and the reasons for its successes and failures. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of changes in industry-based training in Australia during the early 1990s. This is the first analysis to combine data from all four 1993-1994 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) training surveys. The evaluation took place over three years and involved extensive research on training behaviour in all areas of Australian industry in order to isolate the specific contribution of the Training Guarantee to changes in training activity.

The main report details the full findings of the evaluation along with references to statistical and other sources. The summary report focuses on the findings related specifically to the impact of the Training Guarantee, the strengths and weaknesses of its design, and the processes through which it operated. The main report comprehensively describes the changes that took place during the period beginning with the identification of the need for such a levy and ending with its suspension in mid-1994. It demonstrates the contribution of the Training Guarantee to increases in training effort across a wide range of Australian enterprises during the four years of it operation. It assisted in the protection of existing training activity during the recession of the early 1990s but had little success in changing industry behaviour where there was no established training culture. The report concludes that the levy was reasonably effective in terms of the time at which it was introduced. It created widespread awareness of training as an element of business strategy and provided an opportunity for many employers to focus attention on their training strategies. From the perspective of the government, the program was found to be highly cost effective.

This report was completed before the government's decision to abolish the Training Guarantee and so does not cover developments since the implementation of that decision. Show less