Skills Australia

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What we do

Skills Australia is an independent statutory body, providing advice to the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations on Australia’s current, emerging and future workforce skills needs and workforce development needs.

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Functions

Skills Australia’s primary function is to provide advice to the Minister on Australia’s current, emerging and future workforce skills needs and workforce development needs. To do this Skills Australia will:

  • analyse current and emerging skills needs across industry sectors;
  • assess evidence from commissioned research and industry stakeholders to inform Australia’s skills and workforce development needs;
  • distribute information from research and consultations with stakeholders widely to enable entrepreneurs, businesses and workers to have the necessary information to inform their training and employment decisions;
  • provide Government with recommendations on current and future skills needs to help inform decisions to encourage skills formation and drive ongoing reforms to the education and training sector; and
  • establish and maintain relationships with relevant state bodies to inform advice on current and future demands for skills and facilitate alignment of priorities for responses to skills needs.

Objectives

Skills Australia has been established with the objective of providing for expert and independent advice in relation to Australia’s workforce skills needs and workforce development needs, in order to:

  • identify training priorities to respond to those needs;
  • increase workforce participation;
  • improve productivity and competitiveness;
  • identify and address skills shortages; and
  • promote the development of a highly skilled workforce.

Establishment and Legislation

Skills Australia was announced in the Australian Government's Skilling Australia for the Future policy as a body to provide advice to the Minister on current, emerging and future workforce development needs and workforce skills needs. Its objectives are to identify training priorities to respond to those needs, increase workforce participation, improve productivity and competitiveness, identify and address skills shortages and promote the development of a highly skilled workforce.

Skills Australia was established by the Skills Australia Act 2008, which received Royal Assent on 20 March 2008. The Skills Australia Act 2008 establishes the operational arrangements to support the independent body and specifies that members be appointed by the Minister and must have experience in academia, the provision of education and training, economics and industry.

The membership of Skills Australia was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, The Hon Julia Gillard MP, on 17 April 2008. The members are Professor Gerald Burke, Ms Sharan Burrow, Dr Michael Keating AC, Ms Marie Persson, Mrs Heather Ridout, Mr Keith Spence and Mr Philip Bullock appointed to Chair.

The first meeting of Skills Australia, held on 28 May 2008 in Parliament House, was launched by the Prime Minister, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP, and Deputy Prime Minister, The Hon Julia Gillard MP.

Further updates on the progress of the establishment of Skills Australia and its related consultation processes will be made available through this website.

Meet the Board Members

Who we are

Deputy Prime Minister, The Hon Julia Gillard MP, has brought together an eminent group of individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds with a depth and breadth of knowledge and experience to form Skills Australia. Skills Australia members have experience in academia, the provision of education and training, economics and industry. They were appointed by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard on 17 April 2008.

Skills Australia Members

Skills Australia board members

Photo (left to right): Mr Keith Spence, Ms Marie Persson, Dr Michael Keating AC, Mrs Heather Ridout, Mr Philip Bullock (Chair), Ms Sharan Burrow and Professor Gerald Burke.

Mr Philip Bullock (Chair)

Mr Philip Bullock (Chair) brings an impressive combination of high level leadership skills, a strong industry background and a commitment to education and training to the position of Chair of Skills Australia. Mr Bullock has more than 25 years experience working with IBM, culminating in his appointment as Vice President, Systems and Technology Group IBM Asia Pacific Region. Prior to this Mr Bullock was CEO of IBM Australia and New Zealand.

He also served on the Board of the Australian Information Industry Association, the Business Council of Australia, where he also chaired their Skills and Innovation Taskforce, the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission and the Advisory Committee to the Australian Graduate School of Management. He is currently a non-executive Director of Healthscope, a major provider of health services in Australia and was recently appointed as a non-executive Director of CSG Limited, which is one of Australia’s leading IT services companies.

Professor Gerald Burke

Professor Gerald Burke was executive director of the Monash University-ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training from 1994 to 2008 and is now an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education. He undertakes research on the finance and organisation of education and training, and on education, training and employment.

He is a member of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority which is responsible for the registration and audit of schools, vocational and non-self accrediting higher education providers. From 2004 to 2007 he was chair of the Victorian Qualifications Authority, and a member of the Victorian Learning and Employment Skills Commission and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Ms Sharan Burrow

Ms Sharan Burrow was the second woman to be elected ACTU President and was also the first woman to be elected President of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. This followed an impressive career as a teacher and a range of positions in both the NSW Teachers’ Federation and the Australian Education Union, including the President of the Australian Education Union.

Ms Burrow was Vice-President of Education International, the international organisation of education unions, from 1995 to 2000. She is also currently President of the International Trade Union Confederation, a member of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and a member of the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative. As part of her ILO responsibilities, she chairs the Sub-Committee on Multinational Enterprises.

Dr Michael Keating AC

Dr Michael Keating AC is a member of the South Australia Training and Skills Commission, the South Australian Economic Development Board, and Chairman of the Community and Clinicians Expert Advisory Council for Health in NSW. Until recently, he was also the Chairman of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal in NSW.

Dr Keating’s principal fields of research interest include the integration of social and economic policy, particularly as it relates to improving labour market outcomes, and research into the factors affecting governance, including how governments, institutions and policies are responding and how relationships between the citizens and the state are changing.

Dr Keating is a former Secretary of the Federal departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Finance, and Employment and Industrial Relations. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Australian National University. He is an honorary Doctor of the University (DUniv) at Griffith University, a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.

Ms Marie Persson

Ms Marie Persson was appointed Deputy Director-General, TAFE and Community Education of the NSW Department of Education and Training at the end of 2005. Ms Persson has twenty years experience in vocational education and training and, as Director of Training Reform and Training Initiatives, was one of the original senior executives with the Australian National Training Authority. She is a member of the L H Martin Institute Advisory Board for Leadership and Management in Higher Education, Melbourne University and the Board of Skills Australia.

Ms Persson has a Master of Education from the University of NSW, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a member of Women Chiefs of Enterprises International. In 2003, she was the NSW Telstra Business Woman of the Year, and won the Australian TMP/Hudson Community and Government Award.

Mrs Heather Ridout

Ms Heather Ridout is Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group (AIG) and has previously held the positions of Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director – Public Policy and Communications.

Ms Ridout has responsibility for the overall development and implementation of AIG’s policies, strategies and services. Her policy interests embrace the whole range of industry and she has been particularly active in developing AIG’s public policy in relation to economic, industry, innovation, education and training. Ms Ridout has broad experience in the fields of corporate and government policy as well as expertise in the areas of education, government, manufacturing, media and regulatory services. She is also a member of the board of Infrastructure Australia and the review panel for Australia’s future tax system being led by Dr Ken Henry.

Mr Keith Spence

Mr Keith Spence is Chair of the WA State Training Board which provides policy advice to the Minister for Education and Training on matters relating to vocational education and training in Western Australia.

Mr Spence recently retired from his position as the Executive Vice President, Enterprise Capability at Woodside Energy Ltd. He had been with Woodside since 1994 in a number of roles including Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer. Mr Spence brings to the Board extensive knowledge of the resource industry having over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

Mr Spence is a Non-Executive Director of GESB, Clough and Geodynamics, Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Energy and Process Training. He is a member of the board of the Australian Institute of Management (WA) and the Curtin University of Technology Council. He also chairs the Carbon Storage Taskforce, recently established by the Federal Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism.

Mr Robin Shreeve - Skills Australia CEO

Mr Robin Shreeve began his new role with Skills Australia in October 2009 and is based in Sydney.

Mr Shreeve was previously the CEO of the City of Westminster College, London. This college provides vocationally orientated education and training for over 7000 students across 300 courses. Mr Shreeve has a distinguished history within the tertiary sector including, Deputy Director-General, Technical and Further Education and Community Education, NSW Department of Education and Training.