Vaccinating society against long-term labour shortages
Community health and education programs may help Australia avert chronic labour and skills shortages in the decades ahead, according to Professor Fiona Stanley.
Professor Stanley, Director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, was speaking at the launch of a new 3-year partnership with Alcoa, designed to strengthen the Institute's capacity for advocacy to improve the future wellbeing of Australia's children.
Professor Stanley said that it was imperative for corporate Australia to take an active interest in child health and development issues as these hold the key to creating strong, resilient and skilled citizens who are willing and able to participate in the workforce in the future.
"We're incredibly worried about what's happening to children and young people in Australian society, so worried in fact that if we don't do something about it we'll get a larger and larger proportion of children who won't be participating in Australian society in the future" said Professor Stanley.
Professor Stanley said the new partnership would help the Institute strengthen its ability to translate research into action by families and communities. It would also ensure the Institute's research findings get to the people who need to learn from them - including parents and policy-makers.
Alcoa managing director Wayne Osborn said the cutting edge research being undertaken by Professor Stanley's team had the potential to become a catalyst for change in our community.
"We can't turn around the aging of the population but we can do something about ensuring that as many future adults as possible are productive, happy functioning members of our community."