Workforce Participation Taskforce
About the Taskforce
Victoria: Working Futures report
Taskforce membership
Terms of Reference
About the Taskforce
In March 2005, the Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs, Jacinta Allan, established Victoria’s Workforce Participation Taskforce to examine the impact of demographic change, population ageing and slowed population growth on Victoria’s workforce more closely.
The Taskforce were asked to provide advice to the Victorian Government on how to plan and prepare for Victoria’s future workforce, recognising that the responsibility for increasing workforce participation rests with a number of players including the Commonwealth Government. The Taskforce was chaired by The Hon. John Button and included high level representation from government, employers, unions and the community sector. The Taskforce commissioned two major consultancies that have informed large components of this report:
- an overview of the size and composition of Victoria’s current and projected labour market (Access Economics)
- a literature review and study of contemporary practices to address barriers to and provide options for increased participation for specific groups including women, mature–aged and marginalised jobseekers (Allen Consulting Group).
The Taskforce also commissioned the Brotherhood of St Laurence to develop a number of detailed case studies that profile best practice approaches to addressing barriers to employment. These case studies are summarised in the Taskforce report and are also available in full.
Read Innovative community responses in overcoming barriers to employment (Word 158kb)
The Taskforce also invited input from key stakeholders across Victoria including unions, employer groups, economic development agencies and community organisations.
The Taskforce has now completed its work.
Victoria Working Futures report
Read the Victoria: Working Futures - report of Victoria's Workforce Participation Taskforce 2005 (PDF 2mb)
Read Victoria: Working Futures Executive Summary (PDF 346kb)
Go to Department of Premier and Cabinet to read the
media release.For hard copies of the report, please call Information Victoria on 1300 366 356.
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Taskforce membership
John Button, Chair
- Senator for the State of Victoria from 1974 until 1993 when he retired from politics.
- Minister for Industry and Commerce 1983–1993.
Members
Sharan Burrow, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
- Sharan Burrow is President of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights; a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation
- and a member of the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative
- Sharan chairs the Workers’ Group of the Sub–Committee on Multinational Enterprises
Domenic Carosa, Chief Executive Officer,Destra Corporation
- Destra is a leading Internet and e–commerce enterprise. It is the second–largest web–host in the country
- Domenic is one of the youngest CEOs of a listed Australian company and is considered a leader in the growing world of Internet and e–commerce, software and design. He has received numerous young achiever awards
Neil Coulson, Chief Executive Officer, Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI)
- VECCI is a significant employer group, representing the interests of Victorian business and providing services to over 25,000 businesses in the State per annum
- Neil has experience in business management consulting, and a background in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations
- Neil often represents the interests of employers on government advisory groups and is a member of the Victorian Learning and Employment Skills Commission (VLESC), and the Premier’s Drug Prevention Council Business Advisory Group
Peter Dawkins, Deputy Secretary, Department of Treasury and Finance
- Peter Dawkins is Deputy Secretary, Economic and Financial Policy, Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF)
- Previously, Peter was Ronald Henderson Professor and Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. Peter’s research has been primarily in labour economics, social economics and industrial economics
- Peter has been prominent in policy debates about unemployment and the tax and welfare system
John Maddock, Chief Executive Officer, Box Hill TAFE
- John Maddock has significant management experience in the Vocational Education and Training sector. John is also a member of a number of boards and committees including:
- Deakin University Council; Deputy Chair Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC); Management Committee of VTAC; Victorian Curriculum & Assessment Authority
- Chair, State– wide Management Information System Steering Committee; Chair, IT Skills Hub Education and Training Council, and member of the Innovation and Business Skills Australia Board
Tony Nicholson, Executive Director, Brotherhood of St Laurence
- Tony Nicholson has 25 years experience working to improve the conditions of the most disadvantaged in society and is currently the Executive Director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, one of Australia’s largest community sector agencies
- Previously, Tony was, for 14 years, Chief Executive Officer of Hanover Welfare Services, a Melbourne – based organisation regarded as Australia’s leading agency in the field of homelessness
Stephen O’Rourke, Chief Executive Officer, Murray Goulburn Co–operative
- Murray Goulburn Co–operative is Australia’s largest exporter of dairy products, accounting for over $1 billion in export sales in the last financial year. The business is based in regional Victoria (Gippsland and North–east Victoria)
- In 2004, Murray Goulburn Co–operative had 2273 employees throughout Australia (including employees from all subsidiaries under the parent company’s control)
- The food industry is a significant industry in Victoria and its continued growth is important to the future prosperity of the State (it is Victoria’s fastest–growing industry, its main exporter, a major employer, and a mainstay of rural and regional Victoria)
Timothy Piper, Director, Victoria, Australian Industry Group (AIG)
- AIG is an Australian industry organisation representing thousands of member companies, including 4000 Victorian companies. Timothy is a director of a number of companies,including the Microsurgery Foundation, and sits on government advisory committees. He is also a member of the VLESC
Kay Rundle, Chief Executive Officer, City of Greater Geelong
- Kay Rundle has 20 years experience in local government and was the first woman to be appointed as CEO for the City of Greater Geelong (Victoria’s second–largest city and the largest regional local government organisation in Victoria). Kay is also a member of the Premier’s Drug Prevention Council
Janet Wood, Chair, Ministerial Advisory Council of Senior Victorians
- Janet Wood is a Member of the Refugee Review Tribunal.
- She has extensive experience in community and church organisations, and currently chairs the Aged Care Board of the Uniting Church in Victoria
- Janet has participated on a number of government boards and task groups concerned with multicultural and indigenous issues, ethics and health, and most recently, health and communitysupport of older persons
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce were:
Workforce trends and influences affecting labour supply and demand in Victoria in the medium and long term. Identify the impact of social and demographic factors on Victoria’s labour supply (for example, ageing population and decreased population growth), including:
- Current participation for specific groups
- Comparison with other OECD countries
- Future labour supply / demand projections including regional trends, noting the assumptions that underpin these projections
Barriers to and options for increased workforce participation of specific population groups in Victoria (e.g. older workers, women, young people, CALD, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, and long–term unemployed). Identify under–utilised labour supply and groups with potential for increased participation:
- What are the barriers that these groups face (for example, long–term unemployment
- Financial disincentives; child care cost and availability; work/life family balance)?
- What is the impact of employer recruitment and retention practices on participation?
- What are the work preferences for these specific groups?
- What is the role of government, business and the community in increasing the participation of these specific groups?
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