National employer association the Australian Industry Group has urged the next Queensland Government to take the handbrake off productivity.
Ahead of next week’s state election, Ai Group’s Head of Queensland, Michelle Farquhar, and Head of Northern Australia, Dean Deighton, said members had laid bare the challenges and obstacles of doing business in the State.
They identified their top three priorities as finding skilled workers, reducing regulation and accessing reliable and affordable energy.
When it comes to plugging skills gaps, demand is strongest for technicians and tradespeople, with 77 per cent of employers in Queensland on the hunt for these workers, an Ai Group Centre for Education and Training survey found.
One Ai Group member said he had no choice but to recruit from overseas.
Another has brought training in-house to keep up with the demand for his engineering and advanced manufacturing services.
Supply chain disruptions and increasing costs are other pressing factors crippling industry, the poll showed.
Ms Farquhar said: “The message from our members is clear: the next Queensland Government needs to put measures in place to support businesses, regardless of their location.
“Queensland manufacturers have machinery lying idle with no one to operate it.
“Truck drivers and forklift operators are highly sought after, yet elusive.
“Businesses are bringing in workers from overseas and trying to upskill on the job, but our state’s Gross State Product is languishing, sitting as the nation’s second lowest in 2022/23 behind Tasmania.
“Improving access to skills and training and streamlining regulation and compliance are key to taking the handbrake off productivity in this state.”
Mr Deighton said the shortage of skilled workers, supply chain disruptions and rising costs led to sleepless nights for employers in the North.
“Getting goods and services from point a to point b is the difference between earning a dollar or not,” Mr Deighton said.
“The same can be said for finding skilled workers to produce those goods.
“And, when it comes to rising costs, ask any regional business operator which is less painful: a dental appointment or their energy bill.
“They’ll go for the dentist every time.
“Queensland’s electricity prices are only just below New South Wales and far higher than Victoria’s.
“We need to deliver new renewables, storage, gas peakers and transmission faster and support smart energy use to get more competitive prices.
“There are unique issues in Northern Australia and the next Queensland Government needs to recognise the region is the country’s economic powerhouse.
“The whole state needs to prosper so Queenslanders are not left behind.”
Ai Group member Tim Haight, whose tech business, NLT Digital Solutions, manufactures and deploys IT networks and software products in mines and tunnels around the world, said radical change was needed.
“In the past two years, we doubled both our revenue and workforce, but access to skilled labour remains hideously deficient,” Mr Haight said.
“We’ve had no choice but to look overseas.
“Issues such as payroll tax and the lack of incentive to employers to develop their businesses in Australia are senseless.
“Here, we shoot businesspeople in the foot and say OK, now let’s see you run that marathon.
“There has been a lack of focus on employers for a number of years, and it’s about due, I think.”
Fellow Ai Group member Mick McMillan, Managing Director of Townsville-based AEP Engineering, said: “When you think things can’t get any worse, it’s getting worse.
“As far as skilling the workforce, we’re having to take it on our own bat to do it because we can’t find people.
“The overheads are becoming beyond reasonable. There are always challenges in business but when the challenges are: ‘put up with bureaucracy’ or ‘put up with these changes because they will make everybody’s life better’, well, they haven’t made everybody’s life better.
“Unfortunately, the Government has fostered poor workplace culture in Australia by accepting and passing some of these particularly heinous labour laws that have just caused small business to go: ‘How do we deal with this?’
“There is no way we can keep operating as we were to be successful because all these hindrances are put forward: I can’t call an employee after hours, even if they’ve made a mistake that I need to follow up.
“Our advice to the next government would be: if it keeps going down this pathway, there’ll be no small business and no long-term future for Australia.”
Case studies featuring Mr Haight and Mr McMillan, with photos, are available upon request.
