Jobs + Skills Summit wrap-up (weekly update 02.09.22)

“I was talking to Anna Bligh as well about the finance industry, where so many of these challenges come together… thank you. This is, I think the beginning of a new era of cooperation and consensus. Our task now is to take this momentum, and build change that lasts – for a bigger, stronger, broader more inclusive, more sustainable economy.” 

–   Treasurer Jim Chalmers, closing remarks, Jobs + Skills Summit, Canberra

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Jobs + Skills Summit Update:

Outcomes

• Jobs + Skills Summit – Outcomes – The Federal Government has released an outcomes document on conclusion of the summit, outlining areas of immediate action, areas of further work and complementary existing commitments – which include improving reporting of climate and nature-related financial risks.

Jobs

• Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has announced Australia’s permanent migration cap will be increased by 35,000 to 195,000 for this financial year.
• IR Minister Tony Burke announced  “immediate” changes to the Fair Work Act to begin consultations next week. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke revealed on Thursday that the Government would legislate to widen access to multi-employer bargaining and simplify the legal test used to approve pay deals. 

Skills

• Prior to the Summit, the Federal Government announced $1.1 billion for TAFE to provide 180,000 fee-free places. 
• Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the Government would invest $36.1 million in visa processing to increase staff capacity by 500 over the next nine months. “In addition to clearing the backlog, this (additional investment) will set up the permanent migration program.”

Media

• The ABA released a statement on the morning of the Jobs + Skills Summit calling for an increase in migration to fill widespread labour shortages and pointing out the critical shortage of high-tech skills. 
• The media release, and a radio interview on 2SM, plus Anna Bligh’s interview with The Australian, were reported and repeated during the Summit, with national news coverage on Thursday night.
• ABA social media on the Jobs + Skills Summit amplified industry messages.
• The ABA’s welcoming of the increased migration cap was reported in The Australian.

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Policy Update:

• ABA members met with US Treasury and the US State Department to discuss correspondent banking with an emphasis on ways of reducing barriers to provide services, particularly in the Pacific region. 
• The ABA initiated a member meeting with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) to discuss a significant change in the way international payment messages will change from November 23 2022 (in line with ISO 20022). This has significant impacts for banking payments operations, and also in particular for financial crime screening. 

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Regulatory Update:

• The Financial and Regulator Assessment Authority (FRAA) tabled its first Effectiveness and Capability Review of ASIC. It recommended that ASIC:
  • Create a substantial uplift in its data and technology capability, which will involve cultural change.
  • Focuses across the organisation on enhancing the quality of its engagement with stakeholders.
  • Enhances its ability to measure its own effectiveness and capability and communicate the outcomes of such assessment transparently, both internally and externally.
  • Broadens its mix of skill sets to ensure it can meet the current and future needs of the organisation.
• The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was officially launched by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt. NEMA is the amalgamation of Emergency Management Australia and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia published its Corporate Plan for 2022/23. Returning inflation to target over time replaces a previous focus area ‘support the Australian economy in the wake of COVID-19’. Remaining focus areas have been in place since the 2020 Corporate Plan.

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Economic Update:

• The ABS released an Impacts of COVID-19 Survey for July 2022. The continuing impacts of COVID-19 on the workforce is clear, with the ABS citing 22% of businesses reporting being directly affected by COVID-19 related staff absences. Further:
  • Nearly a quarter (23%) of Australians reported their job situation had changed in the last four weeks as a result of the pandemic.
  • Of these, one in five (19%) reported their workplace has an increased demand for staff, down from 26% in June.
  • Two in five Australians (42%) reported a household member had experienced cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms in the past 4 weeks.
• APRA has released its monthly ADI statistics for July 2022. Total residential loans and finance leases increased by $14.6 billion (or 0.5%) in the month of July, and by $276.4 billion (or 9.4%) for the year ended July 2022. The data illustrates the strong growth taking place in non-traditional banking. Growth in business lending by neo-banks was up 3.4% in July while growth in business lending by traditional payments operators was up 2.2%.
• After a number of years of substantial increases in house prices in Australia, prices recorded the largest monthly decline since 1983 in August, according to a CoreLogic report. The main drivers of this decline came from eastern seaboard capital cities with Sydney falling 2.3%, Melbourne dropping 1.2% and Brisbane falling 1.8% from the previous month.
• Eurozone inflation has risen to a record 9.1%, increasing pressure on the ECB to raise rates substantially next week. Europe’s bond market posted a fall of 5.3%, the biggest drop since the Bloomberg Pan-European Aggregate Total Return index began in 1999.
• South Korean semiconductor shipments fell 23% from a year earlier, after a 5.1% rise in June, an early sign of weakening demand for vital components in consumer and industrial goods.

Read the full Update online

Jobs + Skills SummitWeekly Update