Beyond The Next Election - Policy Challenges For Australia's Future Workforce

This speech was delivered by Bill Shorten to the Sydney Institute on September 20, 2005.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you tonight.

Freedom of speech in politics can sometimes be hard to live with, but I want to start by:

Reaffirming the importance of political debate, and by

Recognising the importance of the role that the Sydney Institute plays in promoting political and policy debate in Australia.

And I challenge the Sydney Institute and all of you here tonight to remain committed and focussed on the debate about the promotion of the issues, political alternatives and policies so important to the future of Australia.

For the first time in a generation, Australians confront a national government that has control of both houses of Parliament - the recent experience of the Telstra bills being guillotined through the Senate without the right of opposition parties to speak sends an ominous warning.

Your Institute, along with the union movement and other social and democratic organizations in Australia, as well the news media, now have an even more important role in using their influence to criticise, make accountable and shine a light on Government decisions, Government legislation and policy directions.

Thank you for the chance to do that with you tonight.

Introduction

On Thursday morning last week, I was talking with four AWU members at an asphalt batching plant in Melbourne's western suburbs.

I asked them would they retire at 55?

One said he had already retired, but after two years he had re-entered the workforce, could not find part-time work, worked casually and was now back working full-time.

The other three members conceded they did not expect to retire at 55, and that 60 would be good. They all had other stories of people working older - partly because some wanted to, others because they had to.

They all agreed they could not afford to retire at 55.

All of these members were thinking about issues reflected in an ageing population, working longer, managing retirement and semi-retirement, and planning financially for themselves and their families. They were all thinking 5 years, 10 years, 15 years into the future.

Interestingly, I do not see that amount of long-term planning in much of the Federal Government's current political debates.

Well tonight, I want to talk about some of our long-term planning to meet challenges to national workplace policy - generational challenges that will continue beyond the next election.

The truth is that there is a self-defeating short-term attitude prevailing in political and business life in Australia.

We are all too familiar with the 24-hour news cycle, instant opinion polls, focus groups, the sheep-flock mentality of fund managers obsessed with quarterly market reports, and 25 year-old 6 figure remunerated analysts demanding quick returns. The net result is a loss of long-term patient reinvestment and an overall lack of vision in strategic decision-making.

AWU members would prefer a long-term political debate focussed on delivering growth, prosperity with fairness for their children and their parents.

But the system - our short-term political cycle - counts against us.

Our policy of variable three-year terms for the House of Representatives has led to national government elections occurring on average every two-and-a-half years since Federation - half the period of five years now set for the UK, Canada, France, Ireland, and Italy; and significantly less than the four years in Japan, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Denmark.

And Australian business leadership is not much better. The turnover of CEOs is also above the global average and, more significantly, our average CEO's tenure of less than five years is below the widely acknowledged minimum period required to reap the benefits of training employees or investing in research and development. The emphasis and the incentive is to slash costs without reference to long term productivity and profitability.

The policy consequences of such short-termism are obvious from the Horse-trading and pork barreling on Telstra and the Federal government's insistence on irrelevant employment conditions before advancing funds to the States for infrastructure development under AusLink or education under university or school agreements.

These are symptoms of a politically sensitive government with an economic agenda that is self-absorbed, squarely election-focused and narrowly defined.

The Lucky Country

Donald Horne's death this month reminded me of his warnings about Australia's future in his book "The Lucky Country."

Remember, it was published in 1964 so its free of the contemporary jargon of globalisation, international competition and economic reform, but even then Horne felt the pulse of what was to come.

His book reminded us of another period of policy neglect -under Menzies - when conservative government in Australia riding on the back of another commodities price boom - in wool and wheat - worked on the basis that little would change for the Lucky Country. A fifth of Australia's primary production still went to British markets.

So long as we had our dominance in world wool production and a substantial share in wheat and secure markets for our fleece, there was no need to reform Australia's tariff policies advocated by the Country Party's Trade and Industry Minister Black Jack (John) McEwan. (1)

Horne also stressed the need for increased investment in new technologies, research, development and education, particularly the technical sciences. He repeatedly lamented the lack of local research and technology, which were at the cutting edge, supporting both the UK and the US defence and space program activities in computer design and aerospace technology. Manufacturing exports were growing slowly and our performance compared poorly with other developed countries. (2)

Australia was unprepared for our loss of preferential access to the United Kingdom (our major and dominant market) after it joined the European Economic Community and the emergence of competitors and substitute products in both primary industries and manufacturing.

Roll forward 40 years after publication of the 'The Lucky Country', and where are we really?

Little has changed when it comes to politically-preoccupied administrations worrying only about the next election.

The task is still the same: at a time when commodities are booming, company profits are at an all time high and per unit labour costs at historic lows, how does Australia lock in its prosperity to strengthen our economic future and protect our economy from the vagaries of the international commodity markets?

The only answer is growth - by repairing our declining performance on productivity and boosting participation rates.

And that's almost impossible to achieve when you are working to an horizon that stretches only to the next election.

The result is that Australia's efforts in generating growth are again becoming more dependent on perspiration than inspiration as measured by GDP per hour worked, or falling productivity. We work longer than most other countries (3) and that won't change until the government reorders its priorities for the reform agenda.

She'll Be Right

Quite often, the job of union officials is to deliver bad news - to tell people the truth about their position. Sometimes this message is told to management, but too often and more painfully sometimes is breaking bad news to members - sometimes heart-breaking news.

We don't want to do it, but sometimes we have to. And it takes courage

And, so it should be with the Federal Government.

Policy tinkering and articles of faith will not answer the challenges of an ageing population. (4)

The long-term solutions are not the destruction of unions, nor the demise of collective bargaining. Mantras that play well at Liberal Party conferences about crusades against unions don't halt an ageing population.

We are being sold a good news story about the Australian economy - and we welcome the sustained growth since 1983.

But the recent good news story disguises fundamental weakness that threatens Australia's long-term future.

The latest national accounts reveal the narrowly-focused shift of investment to mining (5) and with it a return to the long-term structural problem that comes with being the world's quarry. The IMF's latest report warns of our need to achieve record productivity to maintain economic growth.

We know our economic bad news:

· The June Quarter (2005) National Accounts recorded growth driven by once-in-a-generation high commodity prices. (6)

· But we do have projected falling participation rates

· Combined with declining productivity

· Plus net foreign debt at $430 billion, which is just over 50 per cent of GDP.

· Add equity owned by foreigners and Australia's total net foreign liabilities hit $517 billion or 61 per cent of GDP.

Not good news to see a ballooning current account deficit, historic and unsustainable levels of foreign debt. (7)

Not good news to see no new breakthrough national savings strategy comparable to the superannuation contribution of the 1980s.

Not good news that we are in danger of becoming a one-trick pony economy: a coasting economy, plundering our national and natural treasures like Pirates of the Caribbean.

This bad news demands leadership.

And if I seem to dwell on bad news it's because, in my experience as a union official:
· If you look after the problems, the good news seems to look after itself;
· In the problems and the enormous challenges, often lie the greatest opportunities

Demographic Change

Therefore, my 12 years of practical real economy experience lead me inexorably to the observation that the critical workplace contributions to growth, productivity
and participation are not found by reducing 20 minimum safety net conditions to 16 or keeping unfair dismissal rights only for companies employing more than 100 employees.

These matters may generate temporary political excitement or fleeting column inches but our fascination with partisan conflict must not obscure the real
issues.

They are, in no particular order;

· An ageing workforce (6) ;

· Encouraging greater female participation in work;

· Promotional activities aimed at changing social attitudes to retirement and encouraging acceptance of older workers in the workplace;

· Fixing the skills shortage;

· Education and training initiatives which increase the capacity of individuals to retrain, such as fast track degrees and more recognition for prior learning;

· Skilled migration policies and, longer-term retaining our highly trained skilled workers, and enticing expatriates to return (9);

· Creating a fairer tax system by reducing effective marginal tax rates;

· Providing incentives for welfare recipients to return to work;

· Building research and development

On current projections, our historic high workforce participation will collapse over the next 40 years from 64% to 56%. (10) And lower participation by older Australians by OECD standards is amplifying the problem.

Increasing the level of participation is central to securing future labour supply. Countries doing significantly better include Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, where participation rates for those aged 55 or over average 70%. (11)

But talking about increased participation rates has little political impact - many people aren't interested and don't understand. Again, where is the leadership?

American financier Felix G Rohatyn once said: "especially in government and public life, there may not be any such thing as the right answer. There may, at best, exist a process whereby trends can be affected and the direction of social and economic behavior temporarily influenced...it means government committed to oppose destabilizing trends before they become flood tides."

And so these real world workplace issues are the substance of stabilization and reform.

Effective industrial relations

The existing industrial relations system pioneered by Kelty, Hawke and Keating has contributed to the current record participation rate driven mainly by an increase in female participation. (12) (This trend has more than offset the relative decline in male participation - due to a decline in manufacturing).

So, boosting female participation rates has become a key.

Enterprise bargaining has allowed workplace innovations, such as the family friendly workplace, that promote higher female participation. Access to childcare and medical services at work has assisted the participation of working mothers at sites such as Robert Bosch at Clayton. (13)

Increasing women's participation rates

But there are significant obstacles to increased female participation in the workforce.

Through the year to June quarter 2005, the cost of childcare increased by six times the annual increase in inflation. (14)

Principally because the government increased subsidies and tax credits without increasing the number of childcare places that are available. (15)

The childcare industry now derives some $1.5 billion a year from government subsidies - and demand for places outstrips supply.

The shortfall in places is hard to quantify, but is often estimated at well in excess of 150,000. One indication of the need may be that 31% of childcare is done by grandparents.

Simply put if the present level of public investment cannot achieve sufficient new childcare places then the Costello largesse should provide more places.

New settings are needed to:

· Encourage the provision of quality childcare facilities on or nearby workplaces and primary schools;

· We should perhaps also allow salary sacrificing for parents who have to spend money on childcare;

· Make the FBT exemption effective in increasing the supply of child care places;

· Remove the impediment to the provision of childcare through enterprise bargaining and similar arrangements (16);

· Revisit the present policy that means childcare benefit is not available for people who do not work or study for at least 15 hours a week. This is a barrier particularly to sole parents making the transition from home to work. The threshold would be reduced to zero if the policy is to be an effective tool in maximising participation, particularly by women. (17)

Unions, particularly the LHMU and the ASU, have reversed the massive skills shortage in childcare workers by significantly increasing wages through a federal Work Value case in the AIRC, now being followed up with a pay equity test case in the NSW IRC. Without this effective representation by unions, childcare was in danger of becoming one of Australia's lowest paid and lowest qualified professions. Not only was this stupidly insensitive but it miscalculates present needs and underestimates the future value to society.

Other industrial relations related benefits

Encouraging more people to work older requires a healthy workforce. More, rather than less, OH&S reform and representation is an important part of that investment.

Significant changes in the nature of work and the classifications of workers is inevitable, including the rise of part time services employment, reflecting the faster pace of change in the economy. (18)

Flexibility is crucial.

The AWU is committed to continuing to negotiate flexible enterprise agreements which will improve workforce participation. The AWU has been at the forefront of negotiating win-win outcomes for workers and businesses with steel makers, Smorgon Steel and OneSteel and in packaging and recycling at Visy.

Unions are already negotiating innovative workplace arrangements to improve the participation of older workers in the workforce.

It's absolutely essential to know and understand the workforce.

I quizzed 50 members working at BOC and an industrial galvinising factory last week about their retirement prospects.

Like their asphalt brothers earlier, on the one hand they don't want to do extremely physical work into their 60s but on the other hand they don't have high levels of savings and are concerned about retiring into the semi-poverty of a fixed income pension. Several spoke of the fear of announcing retirement and then being treated as "ghosts" by management and their peers.

And it is essential to reflect that knowledge in age sensitive policies that keep older, experienced workers on the job.

The AWU and other unions are bargaining to assist their members as they get older, for instance;
· Ratio of minimum numbers of over 45 workers to other groups
· Job sharing by existing workers over 55 by agreement
· Help workers actually utilize government retraining schemes

But the current legal system puts up barriers to working older. The AWU wants to overcome the current industrial practice of refusing to pay redundancy to workers over the age of 65, and the discriminatory tax treatment of termination payments based on age.

Take the example of a longterm senior Operator in the petrochemical industry, with 120 weeks of redundancy giving a pre tax payment of $172,865. Under age 65 his net payment after 23 years service would be $158,579. But after his 65th birthday, this net payment would be reduced to $145,530 - an incentive for him to retire earlier of more than $13,000. (19)

Perhaps we should also seriously consider removing or at least initially reducing payroll taxes for workers over 60 as a further incentive to employing older workers.

This could amount to $750 million out of total payroll tax revenue (20) in 2003-04 of $14,027 million, and provides a sound policy base for the reduction in payroll tax.

This would encourage growing small businesses to hire workers aged 60 or more in order to maintain their existing payroll tax exemptions while expanding the enterprise. (21)

And perhaps we should consider giving mature age workers access to government loans, with superannuation holdings acting as surety, to pay for education fees. Some progress has been made in improving the superannuation system, but it remains a challenge to further encourage older workers without removing existing benefits.

Workers compensation limitations based on age also have to be reconsidered if we seriously want to increase labour participation by older workers.

Modern, forward-thinking unions want to work with government - not continually be forced to defend themselves against attacks like the one presently being mounted for political purposes by the Federal Government.

The legislation that the Government will reveal in the next month or so on industrial relations is not about a better economy, more jobs or higher pay and it doesn't matter how much money they spend trying to convince the public of this, it won't wash. As one of my members said to me "yeah, it might make the numbers look better, it's just that all the people will be miserable".

The Government's IR legislation is a mish mash of old ideas and old prejudices. If it gets through, it will turn back the clock to destroy a system that has served Australia well, and has delivered productivity, growth as well as fairness and opportunity for workers. It won't deal with the real issues facing the workforce or enterprises.

Education

Education and training is essential to improved workforce participation, including among older workers (see graph).

Currently, relatively high proportions of mature age workers require higher skill levels. (22)

Our education system can and must be adapted for an ageing population. Australia requires a clear focus on retraining older workers - with different learning styles - to match skills shortages.

These skills need to be broader - not just job, site or enterprise specific - and more generic and transferable across sectors and the economy. Individuals are most employable when they have broad-based education and training and portable, high levels of skills.

Investment in education as human capital should be a key policy priority for every tier of government. Australia has been unique among advanced economies in failing to lift public education spending commensurately with the increase in private spending. (23)

Of course, there's no quick 'political fix' in reskilling older workers - just the satisfaction of correct, long-term planning that benefits all our futures.

We need to increase support for learning in the workplace. Government needs to send serious signals about support for business to invest in training.

We know the support that employers - especially smaller employers - provide is not uniform. Some employers still do not recognise the dividends that flow from providing their staff with education and training opportunities.

There are still employers I meet who on the one hand will complain about the skills shortage but on the other hand will complain about the cost of training people who then change jobs.

The AWU does not want to enforce standardisation but will always support employers who train employees.

The problem remains that Australian companies receive little or no incentive to encourage apprenticeships.

Here's some ideas in no particular order:

· Why not target long-term unemployed kids under 23 for apprenticeships?
· Why not reduce business taxes on employing apprentices?
· Why not bonuses for employers who see apprentices through their time and keep them on?
· Why not utilise the $600 million annually spent in cash incentives by prioritising the New Apprenticeships scheme around high skills trades for additional funding? (24)

Unions have the responsibility for supporting the training challenge by more flexible EBAs which make provision in particular for retraining older workers. The AWU already supports training for specific workplace skills. (25) In future, EBAs could be more broadly-based, including training initiatives such as English and Literacy Programs.

· The current training dollar is being spent too thinly, focusing on inputs and costs and not on competency and skill filling at the workplace.

· The time-based approach to training in this country bears little correlation to competency in attaining skills.

· Apprenticeships should also be more accessible for older workers. In 2004, there were just under 394,000 apprenticeships, and with only 130,000 being in the traditional trades (the same number as in 1992). (26)

And in 2004 there were ten times as many younger people (15 to 24 years) compared with older people (45 to 64 years) undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in Australia. (27)

· HECS should accommodate mature age students in terms of their shorter working life. I support access to government loans, with superannuation acting as surety, to cover education fees. More generous deferred payment arrangements (above the current maximum of $50,000 over a lifetime) should also be supported.

Finally, within the context of recognition for prior learning, there is ample scope to fast-track education and training, including university degrees. We can work our educational resources harder to increase the supply of available places. (28)

Conclusion

We don't have all the answers - there are no easy fixes or painless solutions to difficult challenges.

Politics can all too often look like a dirty game, but representing people and advocating for them is actually at the heart of politics and unionism. So while sometimes it might not look like it, politics is a dignified pursuit. Government should also be about properly representing people and advocating for them - and not driven by short-term political goals.

It's sad that in many areas we find an unbridgeable gap between over-the-horizon policies we should be developing for a prosperous and decent society and the actual priorities of the federal government.

Our society can no longer afford to allow short-term political thinking to submerge debates over policies determining our ongoing living standards, the educational and employment opportunities of the next generation of workers, and the livelihoods of future retirees, are too important to become lost in political short-termism.

To paraphrase from Vaclav Havel, the union has taught me that politics should be animated by the desire to contribute within the community, rather than by the need to crusade or vilify within the community.

The union has taught me that politics can be not only the art of the possible, - especially the deals, the disputes and pragmatic manoeuvring - but also the art of the impossible, namely the art of improving ourselves, each other and the world.

I hope tonight I've been able to provide a reasonable alternative view of the foundations we should be building for this country's future.

Thanks for listening to me.

Footnotes

(1)

McEwen, a Menzies favorite, was often in conflict with Treasury on economic policy; see http://primeministers.naa.gov.au for an account of these (and other) machinations.

(2)

http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/33bb7a8977192473ca2569de0027ced7?OpenDocument

(3)

The Government needs to change priorities for the reform agenda or we will need to work even longer. The 2004-05 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum saw Australia drop from 10th in 2003 to 14th place in 2004. The IMF has reported that maintaining a higher level of GDP growth will be a key challenge for Australia in the face of the current lower than average levels of productivity in order to improve prospects for stronger growth in living standards. Productivity growth recorded 0.8 per cent in the June quarter and -0.8 per cent for the year ended June 2005. This rate is unsustainable if Australia is to maintain, let alone increase living standards. It compares to an annual 2.25 per cent achieved in the last 14 years as a consequence of the reforms implemented largely by Labor Governments. Australia's per capita GDP is 20 per cent lower than in the United States. (International Monetary Fund: Australia, Staff Report for the 2005 Article IV Consultation, August 2005) I would agree with the IMF's conclusion that the current lack of longer-term policy direction is the main reason why this gap is as large as it is today.

(4)

And many commentators have identified their estimate in the absence of policy reforms the opportunity cost in lost wealth and prosperity in taking the current low growth versus strong growth future, see for example, the BCA's Locking In or Losing Prosperity: Australia's Choice, 2005, http://www.bca.com.au/content.asp?newsid=97546

(5)

And, the IMF's latest report warns of our need to return to record productivity growth to maintain economic growth.

(6)

Australia's export commodity prices have risen 25 per cent in the last three years. This has increased the nation's real income by as much as 1.5 per cent of GDP on average in each of the last two years based on RBA estimates. The Government keeps jawboning that economic growth will switch from consumption to exports as investment in the commodities-related sectors picks up. But when and for how long? It is unclear whether that will now occur strongly enough and for long enough before commodity prices being to fall. We risk over-reliance on commodity prices.

(7)

It is estimated that on current trends, net foreign liabilities will be approaching 75 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade increasing the risk of Australia entering a debt trap where we have a permanently high current account deficit as we need to service those foreign liabilities. This hands off approach is at odds with the most recent views of the IMF that "the issue of foreign debt and the high current account deficit had to be watched...and the high level of private external debt, in the context of sustained current account deficits, requires continuing close monitoring''. If the foreign investment community shorts the dollar quickly, domestic policy makers will need to decide on whether to cushion the impact on inflation and debt levels by raising interest rates significantly to attract lenders back or to let domestic prices reflect the devaluation in the dollar feeding into the CPI above the RBA's target range of 2-3 per cent. For example, a change in outlook for commodity prices because of a rapid correction in say China or the US could have an impact, because the Government has done nothing to improve the framework for competitiveness in the economy by encouraging world's best practice productivity drivers of infrastructure, education and training, R&D, health and tax policy and a sensible plan for manufacturing in the face of external imbalances. Either option is a bad outcome for the economy because it will end up in higher real interest rates.

(8)

Participation rates, despite recent improvement in the wake of a healthy labour market, are in longer term decline due to demographic change. Over the next 40 years, aggregate labour force participation rates are projected to fall by around 7 percentage points to 56.3 per cent by 2044-45. The OECD has indicated that it does not want to see tinkering but radical reform to stop labour force participation from flat-lining in the face of Australia's aging population. A range of policy prescriptions is recommended to lift participation rates by retaining those already in work and by assisting those out of work into work (OECD, Aging and Employment, Australia, June 2005). Our future is that our historic high workforce participation rate will fall over the next 40 years from 64% to 56%. And lower participation by older Australians - by OECD standards - is amplifying the problem. OECD 2000, Statistical and analytical information on ageing, OECD, Paris. Also see http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/399DB767-EDFA-4E43-B0EC-3F62EFFE169F/4269/part4.pdf

(9)

In 2002-03, the preliminary estimate of net overseas migration was 125,300, while natural increase was 115,200 and total growth was 240,500. There were 50,500 permanent departures in 2002-03, an increase of 10% on 2001-02, continuing the pattern of annual increase which occurred in most years since 1986-87 and the highest level recorded over the past two decades. Of all permanent departures, people born in Australia comprised 51% in 2002-03, slightly higher than in 2001-02 (50%).

(10)

Workforce participation is measured as the labour force participation rate, defined as the number of people in the labour force (i.e. either employed or unemployed) as a proportion of the number of people of working age. Australia's labour force participation rate has increased slowly since 1983 from 60.4% to 64.8% in August 2005, which is the highest level of participation on record.

(11)

OECD 2000, Statistical and analytical information on ageing, OECD, Paris. Also see http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/399DB767-EDFA-4E43-B0EC-3F62EFFE169F/4269/part4.pdf

(12)

This trend has more than offset the relative decline in male participation - largely attributable to the decline in traditional manufacturing industries.

(13)

And this is assisting in limiting inequality from the changes to household structures since 1996 that has seen an increase in the proportion of single adult households . The proportion of single income households has increased from 22.7 per cent to 25.2 per cent since 1996. Conversely, the proportion of households with two adults and at least one child - representing the typical nuclear family- has fallen from 20.6 per cent to 17.9 per cent, see Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005 at www.abs.gov.au The report findings note that income inequality or income gap - measuring the fairness of Australia's disposable income carve-up - deteriorated by 2.3 per cent over the eight years from 1994-95 to 2002-03 in part because of demographic changes (accompanying the swelling of the ranks of older higher earners between 45-66 years compared to those aged 15-34 years) and changing household structures. See article by Josh Gordon, The Age, 13 September 2005.

(14)

The cost of childcare increased by 12.4%

(15)

The Government will provide $266.4 million over four years to increase the number of child care places to support parents who are obliged to seek work under the new workforce participation obligations. Increases will be provided for Outside School Hours Care (84,300 places), Family Day Care (2,500 places). However funding is only 23.7 million in 2005-06 with the bulk of the expense in the fourth year of the program - does this mean demand will continue to exceed supply pushing up prices for existing places?

(16)http://www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Pages/ContentPage.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=/workplace/Category/SchemesInitiatives/WorkFamily/Childcare.htm&NRNODEGUID={CA30D93D-8F90-420D-B998-CC830FF1B21}&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#examples_of_employer_sponsored_child_careSAAB Systems Pty Ltd

(17)

And encouraging participation by women is also better for women's health as demographic studies of 40,000 Australian women from 1996-2016 is showing (Selina Mitchell, The Australian 15 September).

(18)

The National Centre for Vocational Educational Research (NCVER 2002) reports that 'the requirements for skills in Australia are changing rapidly, reflecting the economic and social impact of developments in the world economy

(19)

As a general rule, the greater the pre-July 1983 portion, the more tax effective the payment will be as a whole and the greater the incentive to leave before age 65.

(20)

ABS Taxation Revenue Catalogue Australia Number 5506.0.

(21)

For example in NSW, where the exemption applies to businesses with a wages bill of less than $50,000 per month, the business could employ 10 or more workers on good wages without the financial and administrative costs of payroll tax.

(22)

In the broad occupation group managers and administrators, 47% were aged 45-64 years in 2003-04, followed by 38% in advanced clerical and service workers, and 37% (666,400 people) in the professionals group. Year Book Australia, 2005 Labour Article - Mature age workers

(23)

Declining from 4.3% of GDP in the early 1990s to 3.5% in 2003-04.OECD, Education at a Glance, OECD Indicators, 2004, p238.

(24)

I share the concerns of the Australian Industry Group that payment incentives to employers for New Apprenticeships are being misallocated away from the traditional high skill trades to the hospitality and retail sector (because these courses are shorter and cheaper) AIG, Contemporary Apprenticeships for the 21st Century

(25)

The 2005 Certified Agreement between Smorgon Steel and the AWU provides for training "with particular focus on skill demands and career path opportunities within the enterprise".

(26)

AIG, Contemporary Apprenticeships for the 21st Century

(27)

http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/399DB767-EDFA-4E43-B0EC-3F62EFFE169F/4269/part4.pdf

(28)
Bill Shorten, 'An alternative vision for Australia', http://www.awu.net.au/national/speeches/1116217916_6409.html