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Education 'disaster' to blame for flagging productivity, as experts urge Albanese government to address skills crisis
Education 'disaster' to blame for flagging productivity, as experts urge Albanese government to address skills crisis

Sky News AU

time10-08-2025

  • Business
  • Sky News AU

Education 'disaster' to blame for flagging productivity, as experts urge Albanese government to address skills crisis

Industry experts have blamed a "disaster" in Australia's education system for the nation's worsening skills crisis and flagging productivity. Ahead of the Albanese government's economic roundtable, Sky News Business Now hosted a panel of leaders across business and industry to offer insight into issues plaguing Australia's economy. Engineers Australia CEO, and former Infrastructure Australia boss, Romilly Madew told the Shadow Economic Roundtable the nation's productivity crisis had its roots in the education system and had been worsened by red tape affecting a key sector. When you look at engineering, for instance, we've plateaued the number of students studying engineering and 62 per cent of our engineers are now born overseas and if you look the whole economic performance and infrastructure pipeline, what do you need? You need engineers," she said. Ms Madew explained the shortage of engineers was exacerbated by a clumsy registration process, with each state and territory employing its own method. Engineers must be registered in each state and territory in which they wish to work. Responding to Ms Madew, former Business Council of Australia president and Transfield chair, Tony Shepherd argued Australia had failed to keep pace "with the rest of the world" when it came to education. "I think my colleague here is right, we really do need to lift the game in terms of our engineering and science and what have you," he said. "If you look at the results in mathematics in all of our school plans, disaster. "Australia has not kept pace with the rest of the world. They start with their education system (and) it goes right through to training." The latest NAPLAN test results showed one in three students across years three, five, seven, and nine were falling behind benchmarks in reading, spelling, writing, and numeracy. Education Minister Jason Clare said the results indicated there was "more work to do" to address standards and prevent children falling behind. Ms Madew agreed, arguing the government should raise investment and focus on encouraging more Australians to pursue careers in STEM fields. "When we look at the importance of maths and science and schools, there's an opportunity there," she said. "That's where the government should be leaning in to support a lift in productivity in engineering and STEM. "We're going to have an increase of 12 per cent requirement of STEM in the coming years, but where's the pipeline coming from?" The government has maintained addressing the skills crisis will form a key part of discussions during its economic roundtable. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also been keen to talk up previous investments in training, such as fee-free TAFE, in order to demonstrate a commitment to combatting shortages in skilled labour.

Australian economy 'heading towards socialism' claims former Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd
Australian economy 'heading towards socialism' claims former Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd

Sky News AU

time10-08-2025

  • Business
  • Sky News AU

Australian economy 'heading towards socialism' claims former Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd

Former Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd has claimed Australia's economy is "heading towards socialism". Ahead of the Albanese government's economic roundtable, Sky News Business Now hosted a panel of leaders across business and industry to offer insight into issues plaguing Australia's economy. Mr Shepherd, a business heavyweight who spent decades at infrastructure giant Transfield, made the extraordinary claim about the Albanese government's approach during a discussion on how best to address flagging productivity and growth. Citing a growing concern among many economists, the former BCA president argued change was needed to ensure Australia retained a health private sector. "The government is actually crowding out the private sector now," he said. "The government has grown in terms of employment far more than the private sector over the last three years and we're now in that lovely state where on a world scale of reasonably established countries we have the highest proportion of public servants to workers in the world." Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been keen to talk up the growth in the public service, claiming Labor had moved to restore it after years of neglect and outsourcing to consultancies. However, many economists have argued the expansion, coupled with the government's focus on growing the care economy, is dampening growth and could have long-term impacts on the viability of private businesses. That view is shared by Mr Shepherd, who argued Labor's policies were "pushing down" the biggest driver of economic growth and prosperity. "The bottom line is, basic economics 101, the private sector is what brings us prosperity and growth and the public sector's job is to distribute it equitably and fairly, which Australia has got a very good record on," he said. "So what we're doing now is we we're pushing down the private sector, which is the generator of wealth not the government, and we're growing the government side. "That's heading towards socialism, which has been shown economically throughout the world to be a disaster." Mr Chalmers has insisted in the lead-up to the government's economic roundtable he wishes to see more private investment and that he was keen to help enable the sector in order to generate more growth. However, a new tax proposal from the Productivity Commission, which the Treasurer is expected to discuss when the roundtable begins on August 19, may split the business community and could generate questions from big companies over the government's long-term plans. Under the proposal the government would create a two-tier tax system for business, with cuts for smaller operators funded by hikes for big companies. The corporate tax rate for businesses with revenue under $1 billion would be slashed to 20 per cent, while around 500 companies, including major banks, miners and supermarkets, would miss out on a cut. Instead, Australia's biggest businesses would face a new five per cent net cashflow tax in order to ensure the changes remain budget-neutral.

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