“If we can unlock this, everybody wins”: Home Affairs Minister backs skills recognition reform

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s comments on solutions to fix Australia’s system for recognising overseas skills and qualifications marks a significant shift towards meaningful reform, according to the Activate Australia’s Skills campaign.

In yesterday’s National Press Club address, Minister Burke confirmed the federal government is exploring proposals to address long-standing skill recognition challenges for overseas-trained professionals, citing the proposal put forward by Activate Australia’s Skills for a Commissioner or Ombudsman to make the system faster, fairer and more efficient.

Minister Burke stated, “There are some good ideas that we are working through as to whether they can go forward or not. There’s the concept of whether you establish an ombudsman sort of role within Jobs and Skills Australia.

“This has been a wicked problem that no government has been able to solve in the lifetime of any of us. But it’s something that if we can unlock this, then everybody wins. The economy wins.”

Violet Roumeliotis, Activate Australia’s Skills spokesperson and CEO of campaign convener SSI, said “Minister Burke’s recognition today is a very welcome step forward, but it’s important that the government’s acknowledgement of the issue translates into implementation for reform.

“This is a widespread problem for Australia and, as the Minister acknowledged, successive governments have considered reforming Australia’s broken skills recognition system, but have resorted to ad-hoc tweaks rather than much-needed wholesale reform.

“Meanwhile, there’s over a quarter of a million qualified professionals in Australia who are unable to work in their trained fields due to outdated, overly bureaucratic and expensive barriers to recognising their skills and qualifications. Our research shows that Australians could benefit from up to 50,000 more engineers, 20,000 more teachers and 16,000 more nurses who have trained overseas but are working below their skill level in Australia.

“All the while, communities across the nation are dealing with lengthy waiting lists and stretched services because one in three occupations have worker shortages. The skills we need are already here. We just need to activate them.

“Fixing our skills recognition system would put the Albanese Government on the fast track to productivity. Our modelling has shown this reform could deliver an estimated productivity boost of $42,580 per worker each year.

“As the Minister said himself – if we’re get this right, we all win.”

The Activate Australia’s Skills campaign is calling for four practical solutions to reform skills recognition and boost national productivity:

• Establish one national governance system for all overseas skills and qualifications recognition, including an Ombudsman with regulatory power to provide independent oversight and transparency.
• Create a more joined-up system that links skills recognition for migration purposes with licensing and accreditation for employment purposes.
• Provide financial support for individuals to remove cost barriers and an online portal with all the information so people know what they need to do.
• Set up career gateways, or migrant employment pathway hubs, with skills recognition navigators to get qualified people working in their professions again.

The campaign is supported by more than 120 organisations across business, unions, community organisations and civil society.