February 2006

COAG Agrees New Human Capital Reform

On 10 February 2006 Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) announced a National Reform Agenda in line with the Premier’s ‘Third Wave of National Reform’ paper. Australian Governments have taken an historic decision to invest in a long-term reform agenda, including human capital reform, to secure the Australian economy for future generations. The Victorian Government pushed for this third wave of national reform, with investment in people as an essential part of this vision. The COAG National Reform Initiative (NRI) Working Group, chaired by Victoria, came to a shared vision for long-term human capital reforms.

This is a new partnership between Federal, State and Territory Governments with a shared commitment to policies that will deliver more opportunities and choices for people. A number of specific skills and health initiatives agreed at COAG on 10 February 2006 are examples of concrete measures taken by Australian Governments towards human capital reform.

For more information, please access the COAG National Reform Initiative Working Group's Report to COAG (PDF file 718KB).

The NRI Working Group Report builds on the ideas set out in A Third Wave of National Reform: A new national reform initiative for COAG (PDF file, 670KB) released by The Premier in advance of COAG on 6 June 2005.

Human capital reform is one part of the National Reform Agenda which also covers competition reform (particularly in respect of infrastructure) and regulation reform. For more details on the National Reform Agenda as agreed by COAG, see: The COAG Communique (PDF file, 303 KB)

For more information on the Victorian background to the COAG National Reform Agenda, please access the 2005 National Reform Agenda Communique (PDF file, 301KB), the Infrastructure Report (PDF file, 557 KB), the Workforce Skills Report (PDF file 422KB) and the Shared Future report and supporting research.

For further information on modelling supporting the papers, please visit the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Please contact 9651 0736 if you would like copies of these papers.

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