Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that his country’s administration was concentrating on jobs and labour reform as the nation faced economic difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic’s recovery phase.
Albanese said that his administration had a growth plan that was pro-business and pro-worker in a speech given in Canberra to commemorate the passing of 100 days under Labor rule.
This week, a government-sponsored jobs summit will bring together important company and union groups to talk about workplace reform, migration, and wage growth.
The emergence of a cooperative culture is the biggest single result Albanese is aiming for, he told the National Press Club on Monday.
According to Albanese, the economy is being held back by significant skills shortages, and the previous administration erred in advising those with temporary visas to leave Australia during the pandemic as borders closed.
The government would consider developing “additional avenues to permanent migration” in addition to conversations about increasing Australia’s migration intake to entice foreign workers back in fields like nursing and engineering, he said.
In order to provide families and companies with stability and certainty, he said, the government’s first objective right now is to strengthen the economy.
“Australia is already in the “recovery” phase, which has its own set of economic difficulties. Included are notable and unpredictably large supply and demand imbalances that are raising prices for both consumers and companies.”
According to him, Australia wasn’t prepared for the pandemic.
“Not only did complacency and a lack of planning leave us susceptible, but years of budget cuts and willful neglect to the very services and skills we needed most also made us vulnerable. Hanging on the end of the global supply chain, we discovered ourselves to be economically exposed.”
It was necessary to increase employment in these fields for the upcoming decade because the epidemic had worn out nurses, educators, and caregivers for the elderly.
The hospitality, tourist, and educational sectors, as well as many other small firms, were having trouble relaunching.
He emphasised the steps his administration had previously done to address climate change, its determination to hold a nationwide referendum to ask voters whether or not to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution, and its support for raising the minimum wage.
Australia’s central bank issued a warning this month that inflation was on track to reach three-decade highs, necessitating additional rate hikes that would significantly limit GDP.