MIGRATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about the cut to the skilled migrants program.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Employers in regional South Australia no longer have support to access skilled migrants following the Labor government's decision to cease funding to the Regional Migration and Workforce Development Program. The Regional Development Australia Board has expressed its frustration with the process, which provides no reassurance for the program or attraction of professional staff to fulfil the role and also requires specific knowledge and training support.

As reported in the Regional News edition of December 2011 by Regional Development Australia Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula, there is clear evidence that many companies are presently looking at sourcing additional skilled employees with both E&A Contractors and Link Engineering, seeking a combined total of 70 skilled fabrications and welding personnel. Regional News stated that the board will continue to lobby for reinstatement of the program, which will greatly assist businesses in sourcing additional skilled labour. My questions to the minister are:

1. With the government cutting the Migration and Workforce Development Program, how does the Minister for Regional Development believe this will economically help regional South Australia to prosper and grow?

2. With companies seeking skilled employment for growing workforce demands in the area, what information and statistics persuaded the government to cut the program?

3. With regional businesses unable to fill local positions and source internally skilled employees, what sources will the state government provide to ensure regional businesses can survive, despite the cut and lack of government support?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:22): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. A skilled workforce will be critical to the future prosperity of this state and this country, particularly in relation to the mining and resources development boom. We know that one of the key planks to that will be to make sure we have the adequate skills available to be able to work in and service those developments. That is no mean feat.

The government is very aware of this and has been working on a number of strategies to help deal with this. These are within a number of other portfolios. For instance, the particular migrants' portfolio the honourable member refers to is the responsibility of the Minister for Trade, and I understand that that minister made changes to that program as part of the budget cuts.

As we know, budget cuts needed to be made across all agencies, and that was one of the programs that I believe was affected by that, but that was minister Koutsantonis' responsibility. Certainly we have developed up a wonderful strategy, the Skills for All Strategy, which is the centrepiece for assisting us to identify where there is high growth and industry development and where businesses will be going in terms of identifying their future needs.

Skills for All is about trying to ensure we underpin the educational and training requirements needed to be able to meet our future needs. As Minister for Regional Development I have spent a great deal of time out in the regions, in particular speaking to a number of the mining interests, and they are clearly articulating some of the problems that exist already in terms of their skilled labour force.

We are working with them, particularly minister Koutsantonis, to ensure that those interests are able to map out their future development needs and to be able to clearly articulate the skills and scope they will require so that we can ensure that we are feeding that information back into our education and training systems to make sure that we are growing those skills so that we are ready well in advance.

In terms of assisting with businesses, again, a great deal of work is being done, not just by me but also by the ministers for business affairs and mining, where we are liaising with mining and resource development industries and urging them to look at their development needs in terms of the supply chains that they might require right across the board from accommodation, hospitality needs, water and power.

We are particularly looking at and trying to break down supply chains. Wherever possible, from a regional development perspective, I am out there making sure that I bang the drum for local regional community partnerships into those supply chains. Obviously, this government as a whole is working very hard to make sure that South Australia's businesses and industries are forming real partnerships and engagements with these developments so that this state really does have a significant buy-in to the benefits that flow from the opportunities that lie ahead.