The Albanese Government has today teamed up with The Greens to oppose support for Australia’s volunteering sector in the Senate.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Coalition’s Senate team worked to include an amendment which would have enshrined the skills and training needs of the volunteer sector as a key priority for workforce agency Jobs and Skills Australia in its policy decisions.
This amendment was the direct outcome of the "Skilling our Heroes" Roundtable convened by the Deputy Leader and Senator Dean Smith last week.
The rejection of this amendment by the Albanese Government and The Greens is a disgraceful minimisation of the importance of the volunteer sector in Australian and a missed opportunity to do the right thing.
Bizarrely, the Albanese Government rejected the amendment because they were not able to define ‘volunteer’.
Rebuffing the interests of millions of Australia’s volunteers because for want of a dictionary is a new low from the Labor Party.
Whether the Albanese Government acknowledges it or not, volunteers play a critical role across our society and across our economy.
The decisions made by Jobs and Skills Australia will have a direct impact on the ability of the volunteer sector to recruit, retain and train the millions of Australians who volunteer.
Whilst Labor and The Greens have formed a unity ticket against Australia’s volunteers today, the Coalition will continue to pursue changes to ensure this important sector is properly supported by government.