Labour, Department—Statement of Intent

In the light of that answer, has the skills forum launched by the Prime Minister in October of last year held its second meeting yet, at which it was supposed to set a work programme; if not, is the skills forum likely to meet and set a work programme by the first anniversary of its launch?

The member may be surprised to hear that it is not always necessary to have regular meetings and lots of strategies. This Government is about action. The skills forum meets as and when required. In fact, the Government has refocused the skills forum to deliver some very tangible improvements.

I ask members to be a little more courteous. It was extraordinarily hard to hear the Minister’s answer.

What message is the Minister sending about the importance of skills, when papers prepared for the Cabinet strategy committee discussion about establishing the skills forum noted “an understanding that the Government will not be proposing a significant new work programme or allocating new money to initiatives”?

I think the message we are sending is very clear, especially when one notes that education and skills are one of the Government’s six main policy drivers under our economic growth agenda.

Does the Minister agree that increasing the skills of our workforce is an essential element of improving productivity and closing the wage gap with Australia; if so, why is there no skills forum to speak of, no new money for workforce skills and training initiatives, and no comprehensive Government programme for skills development and workforce training?

The skills forum, as I said before, meets as and when required. If the member had read my letter dated 12 August 2010, she would know that a significant amount of work has been, and continues to be, undertaken across the Government to address issues about the supply of, and demand for, skills, including implementation of the tertiary education strategy; implementation of a targeted review of qualifications; implementation of Youth Guarantee scheme trade academies and new trade academies; implementation of the Youth Opportunities package, including Job Ops and Community Max; launch of the Skills Highway website, which, I note, since July has had over 3,600 hits; establishment of the Employer Champions Forum—

Order!

—etc.

I seek leave to table a letter from Minister Wilkinson to Minister Joyce in which she says: “I aim to hold five further Skills Forum meetings this year, which are currently being diaried. The first of these is likely to be scheduled—

Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

I seek leave to table the page from a briefing to Minister Wilkinson that notes: “Cabinet strategy”—

Is this apart from the briefing to the incoming Minister?

No, it is a Cabinet strategy committee discussion. It is a page from a briefing to Minister Wilkinson that notes that the Cabinet strategy committee discussed on 19 October “how much to use the new Skills Forum with Ministers concerned not to raise expectations amongst social partners”, and “An understanding”—

Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

I seek leave to table the draft key points and actions from the 17 December 2009 skills forum meeting, among which is the suggestion that the forum “should include as an aim higher wages, higher skills, and a productive economy”.