Workforce skills enhancement initiatives
The Australian Government has introduced a number of mechanisms to increase the numbers and
level of qualification of workers in occupations where there is a national skill shortage. This includes
the establishment of incentives and personal benefits through the Australian Apprenticeships
Incentives Programme (DET 2013). Aged care, child care, disability care and enrolled nursing are
priority areas in this program (DET 2014).
To tackle the changing skills required of the aged care workforce, the Australian Government
established the Aged Care Workforce Fund in 2011. This created a flexible funding pool for initiatives
aimed at improving the quality of aged care by developing the skills of the aged care workforce. The
fund was allocated $302 million over 4 years in the 2011 Budget (DoHA 2012).
In April 2012, the Australian Government launched the Living Longer Living Better aged care reform
package. This package included a component focused on strengthening the workforce (DSS 2013).
The Department of Social Services, in 2014, committed to undertake a stocktake and analysis
of Commonwealth-funded aged care workforce activities funded over the previous 3 years. The
information collected will show any duplication and gaps across activities, and highlight potential
synergies and areas of overlap between the aged care and disability workforces. The stocktake will
provide an evidence base for developing an aged care workforce strategy, which can help inform
future funding outcomes.
The Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council is currently undertaking a review of the
Health Industry Training Package and the Community Services Training Package, due for completion
in December 2015 (CSHISC 2013, 2014). The Council expects the review to recommend significant
changes to the Aged Care, Home and Community Care and Disability training packages to reflect
the changing needs of these services. The training packages are prepared by the Community
Services and Health Industry Training Board as a set of nationally endorsed standards and
qualifications used to recognise and assess the skills of workers (CSHITB 2014).
Sector fragmentation
Another issue that affects the community services workforce is the fragmentation of the welfare
sectors. The various welfare sectors often have very different funding and administrative structures.
The aged care sector, for example, is administered by the Australian Government, whereas other
sectors fall under the administration of the states and territories or a mix of both.
In this context, while the workforce may have high mobility between sectors, coordination and
joint planning across the welfare sectors is difficult. This can create a situation where sectors
compete for the same workers and where communication between the welfare sectors and training
organisations is poorly structured.