Australian Senate Select Committee into Jobs for the Future in Regional Areas Committee Secretariat Department of the Senate PO Box 6100 Parliament House CANBERRA, ACT 2600 By email: [email protected] SUBMISSION by Hunter Joint Organisation EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Hunter Joint Organisation (HJO) welcomes this opportunity to make a submission to this critical national discussion, thorough the Select Committee, on Jobs for the Future in Regional Areas. The HJO is a hub for local government collaboration with expertise in regional policy and program development as well as operating small businesses in a regional context. The strategic focus of the HJO’s general observations, and its Hunter specific recommendations, is to highlight the critical importance of collaboration of all levels of government to systematise a platform for genuine, place based, local decision making and action. Only this approach will optimise the future job outcomes for the wide variety of communities that exist across Regional Australia. Drawing from its experience and action within the Hunter Region, the HJO offers the following observations in response to the Terms of Reference for the Select Committee. While these observations are initially expressed in general terms in the Executive Summary, they reflect important elements that will underpin the future of regional jobs in the Hunter. More specific discussion of what is occurring and the aspirations of the Hunter Region follows in the balance of the submission. ********** New regional industries and employment opportunities will be realised on a region by region basis. Creation of these new opportunities is a function of the interaction between global economic and technological trends, national economic and demographic trends but applied to the unique local economic and employment context of each region in Australia. These interactions are complex even at a regional level. In particular, in considering how new industries can translate into employment opportunities, it is critical to look, on a region by region basis, both employment supply and demand in both the present and to forecast this into the future. Clean energy technology and ecological services, both existing jobs and future significance, is again a region-by-region proposition. The feasibility of clean energy tech in a region relates to not just current and future demand, but to the nature of supply (base load or otherwise), the suitability of the region to a given technology and the ease of connectivity to the energy network. The Hunter provides a number of opportunities in this sector and existing clean energy tech projects in the Hunter are discussed later in the submission. Lessons learned from structural adjustments in the Hunter, in particular, from the closure of BHP’s steelworks in Newcastle, was the importance of targeted skills development that is linked to trends within the specific regional labour market. This is a form of education and training led economic development that is relevant to both existing and new industries. For new industries to locate in a regional setting, the region must have key attributes that support the value chain of that industry, including, most critically, the necessary and appropriate ‘Human Capital’. This again emphasises why, on a region by region basis, both employment supply and demand in both the present and 2 the future requires needs to be modelled. Only then can a region look at how it develops a bespoke pipeline of education and training to ensure its Human Capital will support the industries it wants to retain, attract and grow. Long-term planning to support the diversification of supply chain industries and local economies in a transparent manner (both in terms of the planning process and outcomes) is critical to provide certainty and clarity to all actors (public and private, individual and organisational) on both matters of timing and policy. Long term planning of this nature also prevents and/or mitigates sharp shocks from sudden industry decline or facility closure. Community infrastructure to attract investment and job creation in regional transition helps frame the suitability of a region to meet the needs of its workforce and their families, and, therefore, is critical to attracting and retaining talent. In this regard amenity, accessibility of services and community infrastructure can become critical points of difference in the global market for talent but also in the task of retaining locally grown talent. Conventional measures of transition would focus almost entirely on economic outcomes which are often easier, on a relative basis, to quantify. In future, with new technologies, empirically gathering and analysing evidence of the impact of investments in amenity can also be assessed in relation to measuring satisfaction, happiness or ‘wellbeing’. In turn this enables assessment of how both these previously ‘intangible’ measures and economic measures are interdependent or otherwise. The need for a public authority to manage the transition is not a given. Analysis of positive transition outcomes suggests that local leadership (from government, industry, academia, employee representatives and community) is key for sustainable success in transition responses. The role of central government, whether commonwealth or state, is better focused on provision and consistent use of tools to support local leadership in implementation, as well as funding and policy settings at state and federal level that are designed to deliver the necessary the autonomy to regional leadership to innovate. This does not preclude a role public authority but the research suggests that the focus should remain on empowerment of a localised governance. Community consultation, as it is experienced by communities in general terms, is insufficient and often not meaningful reflecting the issues of a given place. Case studies indicate that the effectiveness of any response requires regional communities to be directly involved in establishing the process of assessing their current situation, planning for a response and delivery of that response. Even within this very localised context, genuine engagement with those likely to be most affected, is critical to providing a foundation for sustainable transition. An additional factor present in many examples of improved transition outcomes is the genuine engagement, if not direct leadership, provided by local institutions (both public and private). 3 The role of vocational education providers in enabling reskilling and retraining will remain important even in the shift to knowledge based economies. Research suggest that jobs of the future will be ‘high tech (technical know-how and deep specialisation), high touch (roles that are hands on in ‘doing and delivering’’), high care (high personal and emotional engagement).’ Degree qualified study will continue to grow in importance for future jobs. However, it is equally true that the presence in any given region of an appropriately skilled workforce will require the regionally based VET to respond with the necessary skills training for that region. The velocity and adaptiveness of the VET response will be key factors in local transition resilience. This is currently an area of risk ripe for reform focused on empowering regions and greater flexibility in designing and delivering skills based training. The highly centrally regulated approach to the VET sector and the need to often involve both state and commonwealth governments to drive meaningful reform makes this one the most complex yet critical challenges. ********** The general submissions above are drawn from experience in the Hunter and the early work of the HJO’s Standing Committee into Economic Transitions (discussed further below). The balance of this Submission focuses on the situation in the Hunter and is arranged as follows: 1. Introduction to the Hunter Joint Organisation of Councils 2. The Hunter Region – Profile 3. Regional Opportunities and Challenges 4. A Planned, Collaborative Transition 5. Building on Regional Strengths 6. Key Ingredients: Transition Literacy and Skills Pipeline, Local Leadership, Leveraging/Clustering Local Industry Strengths 7. Conclusion and Recommendations for the Hunter OUTLINE OF SUBMISSIONS 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE HUNTER JOINT ORGANISATION OF COUNCILS The Hunter Joint Organisation (HJO) was created as a hub for local government collaboration. Our mission is to strengthen our communities by being the local voice on regional strategic priorities in the Hunter and delivering tailored local government solutions. HJO has a unique perspective on ‘the future of jobs in regional areas’ given that its operations comprise both its role as: 4 1. a statutory body corporate – constituted under s400Q of the Local Government Act, 1993 (NSW) (the Act) – with the function, amongst other things, of establishing strategic regional priorities for the Hunter Region; and 2. the operator of small businesses that add value to and service both the local government sector as well as regional industry (relevant to our operations) and our communities. The HJO has the following member councils: • The City of Cessnock; • Dungog Shire Council; • The City of Lake Macquarie; • The City of Maitland; • MidCoast Council; • Muswellbrook Shire Council; • The City of Newcastle; • Port Stephens Council; • Singleton Council; and • Upper Hunter Shire Council. The HJO has established a Hunter Economic Transition Standing Committee (HESTC) with representatives from all