The Property Council of Australia has today welcomed increased funding to boost Australia’s construction workforce as a positive first step in addressing labour shortages that threaten our housing targets.
Property Council Group Executive Policy and Advocacy Matthew Kandelaars said while more funding for vocational training was welcomed and necessary, further immediate labour supply is required to hit the nation’s ambitious housing target.
“The government’s ambitious 1.2 million new home target will require more tradies than we currently have,” Mr Kandelaars said.
“Projects are being delayed and costs are under pressure due to a lack of labour, so developing a training system to match our expanding national requirements is an important and welcome first step.
“We have an ambitious national housing target, record infrastructure spends in nearly every state and increasing demands for green energy infrastructure that even outstanding training and TAFE programs alone will not fulfil.
“While we welcome funding to streamline skills assessments for potential migrants in construction trades, we can and must set our sights even higher.
“Only 1.8 per cent of our skilled migrant intake has been comprised of new construction workers over the past two decades, falling significantly short of what we need.
“As we intelligently manage down the overall migrant intake, the government needs to prioritise a greater percentage of skilled migrants entering Australia with construction qualifications to meet our housing demands,” he said.
