BILLS DIGEST NO. 71, 2022-23
28 March 2023

Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Bill 2023

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The Authors

Shannon Clark

Key points

  • The Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Bill 2023 (the Bill) amends the Jobs and Skills Australia Act 2022 (the Act) to provide for governance arrangements and functions of Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA).
  • The Act established JSA as a statutory body within the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and set out its interim functions and staffing arrangements, including establishing a JSA Director to commence JSA's work.
  • This Bill establishes the permanent arrangements for JSA, following consultation.
  • The Bill amends the Act to establish the role of the JSA Commissioner and JSA Deputy Commissioners, establish a Ministerial Advisory Board, and expand the functions of JSA. It also sets out transparency measures in relation to JSA's work plan and reporting, and provides for a review of the Act in 2 years.

Date introduced:  22 March 2023

House:  House of Representatives

Portfolio:  Employment and Workplace Relations

Commencement: The day after Royal Assent



This is an interim Bills Digest produced to assist early consideration of the Bill. It provides links to some relevant sources. It will be replaced with a more comprehensive Bills Digest in due course.

The Bill has been referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 24 April 2023.


Purpose of the Bill

The purpose of the Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Bill 2023 (the Bill) is to amend the Jobs and Skills Australia Act 2022 (the Act) to provide for governance arrangements and functions of Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) and related amendments.

The Act established interim arrangements for JSA. This Bill establishes the permanent arrangements for JSA, including:

  • establishing the role of the JSA Commissioner (which replaces the JSA Director)
  • establishing up to 2 JSA Deputy Commissioners
  • establishing a Ministerial Advisory Board
  • expanding the functions of JSA
  • providing for new administrative arrangements relating to the office of the JSA Commissioner and Deputy JSA Commissioners
  • setting out JSA's requirements in relation to preparing an annual workplan and an annual jobs and skills report
  • providing for a review of the operation of the Act within 2 years.

Resources

Jobs and Skills Australia

An initial Bill to establish Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) was introduced to Parliament in July 2022, alongside a Bill to abolish the role of the National Skills Commissioner (website soon to be archived).

See:

Media releases

Australian Government

Non-government parties

Consultation

Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022 and Jobs and Skills Australia (National Skills Commissioner Repeal) Bill 2022

Jobs and Skills Summit

Jobs and Skills Australia Discussion Paper

Committee consideration

The Bill has been referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 24 April 2023.

Policy position of non-government parties/independents

Coalition Senators provided additional comments in the Education and Employment Legislation Committee's Jobs and Skills Australia Bill 2022 [Provisions] and the Jobs and Skills Australia (National Skills Commissioner Repeal) Bill 2022 [Provisions] inquiry report, raising concerns about abolishing the National Skills Commission, and arrangements and timing for the new JSA.

Financial implications

The Bill's Explanatory Memorandum states that there would be minimal financial impact from the introduction of the Bill and that the 2022-23 Budget provided $12.9 million to support the establishment of JSA. The 2022-23 October Budget provided for this funding over 3 years from 2022-23 (p. 100).

The Explanatory Memorandum for the JSA Bill stated that JSA would be funded from savings from abolishing the role of the National Skills Commissioner (p. 3). The 2022-23 October Budget also identified savings from employment and workplace relations measures it would cease or not proceed with (p. 99).

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), the Government has assessed the Bill's compatibility with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of that Act. The Government considers that the Bill is compatible.[1]

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights

At the time of writing this Bills Digest, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has not commented on the Bill.

  • References

    [1]. The Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights can be found at pages 3-7 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill.

  • Links

    The links to the Bill, its Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech can be found on the Bill's home page, or through the Australian Parliament website.

    When Bills have been passed and have received Royal Assent, they become Acts, which can be found at the Federal Register of Legislation website.

    All hyperlinks in this Bills Digest are correct as at March 2023.

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