By Mikayla van Loon
It wasn’t just a general day at work for some Lilydale small business owners when Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton took a trip to the region on Wednesday 31 August.
Making his way to cafes and training facilities before visiting Mainstream Cabinets and National Pressed Metal on Cave Hill Road, Mr Dutton heard from owners Matt Tilney and Justin Schipper respectively about the challenges facing trade industries.
Mr Schipper said it was a great opportunity to have the party leader, Senator Michaelia Cash and Casey MP Aaron Violi on the ground to hear what some of the struggles have been for businesses.
“Definitely staff. Trying to encourage kids coming out of school to take on a trade instead of going to the higher learning and tertiary side. There’s great opportunities for everyone in trades,” Mr Schipper said.
“With Covid over the last couple of years, materials have gone up a lot. That’s been a bit of a struggle. We found that it’s all about organising and just organising well in advance.”
Mr Dutton had been in Victoria in the lead up to the Labor government’s Jobs and Skills Summit being held in Canberra over Thursday 1 and Friday 2 September, an invitation Mr Dutton declined calling it a “union summit”.
Instead Mr Dutton focused on a policy he put forward in June to help pensioners and veterans return to the workforce without losing their pension, suggesting it would improve the workforce shortage across all sectors.
“It [would] provide an immediate workforce in a very tight labour market…this is a problem here in Casey even across the country,” Mr Dutton said.
“It doesn’t matter what area we go to. It doesn’t matter what region we visit. It doesn’t matter which business we go into, across every sector, the labour market is screaming out for workers. Those businesses need the workers so they can increase their productivity.”
Labor treasurer Jim Chalmers has proposed a plan will be discussed at the Summit to allow pensioners over the age of 66 and six months to work extra hours and earn an income alongside their pension entitlement.
“I just wish they would have done it in June because there would be hundreds of thousands of workers in the workforce now,” Mr Dutton said.
“Hundreds of thousands of days of work being completed that would add to our country’s productivity.”
The Jobs and Skills Summit will bring 143 representatives together from different sectors, industries, roles, businesses and unions to have an in-depth conversation about the approach to labour shortages across the country.
Some of the attendees, revealed on 30 August, include university professors, Australian Council of Trade Unions, Equality Rights Alliance, Independent Education Union, Smart Energy Council, Australian Human Rights Commission, The Grattan Institute, Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, Early Childhood Australia and Brotherhood of St. Laurence.
Visiting Lilydale just a day before the Summit was due to take place, Mr Dutton said it was about supporting Mr Violi who had been a “great advocate for his community”.
“In opposition, yes, we want to support good policies and be positive. We want to hold the government to account when they get it wrong.
“But we also want to listen to businesses like those we’ve met today and workers we’ve met today, so that we can formulate the policies.”
