❓ The Premier outlines initiatives to expand the residential construction sector, focusing on training programs, apprenticeships, and attracting skilled workers from interstate, highlighting government investment and economic strength.
AnsweredQoN 825Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BUILDING
AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY — WORKFORCE
825. Mrs L.A. MUNDAY to the Premier:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment to
building more homes and growing our local construction workforce.
Can the Premier please
outline to the house any new initiatives aimed at expanding our residential
construction sector?
AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY — WORKFORCE
825. Mrs L.A. MUNDAY to the Premier:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment to
building more homes and growing our local construction workforce.
Can the Premier please
outline to the house any new initiatives aimed at expanding our residential
construction sector?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for this very important question. We know
that getting more boots on the ground is the key to unlocking homes in Western Australia.
Even though the other side might be releasing the odd housing policy or two,
they are silent on the question of how to continue to train young, and older, Western
Australians to take up the trades that will continue to boost our housing and
construction industry.
As we know, there is no place like Western Australia. It is a
great place to live. We have an amazing lifestyle, the strongest economy in the
country and, for any budding tradie, a pipeline of work as far as the eye can
see. We have averaged 3.6 per cent unemployment for the last three years. That
is the longest stretch on record. We have grown our economy by a quarter from
the pre-pandemic level and provided around $1 billion in cost-of-living
support. That is all possible because we have a government that looks after the
finances and can make the investments that we need.
We need more homes and we need the workforce to build them,
and that means doing all we can to do two key things—train our young
people and workers to make sure that they have the skills to take up the
opportunities right throughout our great building and construction industry,
and attract the skilled migrants that we need to come to Western Australia,
whether from abroad or over east. The Minister for Training and Workforce
Development has made some exciting announcements over the last 24 hours around
how we continue to boost our building and construction workforce. Yesterday, I was
with Minister McGurk at the Clarkson campus of North Metro TAFE, where building
and construction apprentices have had the opportunity to take up positions over
the last four years. Today, we have over 11 000 apprentices and trainees within
our community. That is 75 per cent more than we had just four years ago. We can
see that the policies that we have put in place are working and making a difference.
As I said, yesterday we were in Clarkson to provide more fee-free TAFE courses
for young people who are looking for traineeship or pre-apprenticeship
opportunities in many of the high-priority skills and trades that we need in
our construction sector. I met carpentry apprentices Dean and Jett onsite as
part of today's announcement about the group training organisation wage
subsidy program, which enables small and medium-sized builders to take on apprentices
at a lower cost. So far, it has helped 600 apprentices in the residential
construction sector. Today, we announced another $21.6 million to support
another 175 places. As I said, Dean and Jett were there to look on and provide
some advice to the minister and me in terms of how we performed in the press
conference. They were keen to point out, as was the company that they work for,
that these opportunities would not have come if it were not for the WA Labor
government providing subsidies to the construction training fund and the group
training organisations to ensure that we can
support apprentices to take up opportunities with small to medium-sized
builders.
Today, we also made another
important announcement about a program called Build a Life in WA. We signalled
that we will provide a $10 000 reward to people with skills in the construction
and building industry who come from the east coast and set themselves up for
the future in Western Australia. As I said today, if they are sitting at home
waiting for the next job to come on, why don't they get off their butt
and come to WA to experience the best lifestyle in Australia, the strongest
economy in Australia and the biggest pipeline of building and construction
opportunities in a generation. The minister will be putting the final touches
to this program and it will be available from
January 2025. This is another great opportunity to continue to boost our
housing, and building and construction industry, and continue to
supercharge our economy. If we are going to get more homes and houses into the
market, we need more workers, apprentices
and skilled tradespeople to build those homes. Today is a great example of how my government is supporting workforce development and training, putting in the
investments in a strategic way to make sure that we continue to attract the
builders and workers we need and boost the housing industry, which we all want.
that getting more boots on the ground is the key to unlocking homes in Western Australia.
Even though the other side might be releasing the odd housing policy or two,
they are silent on the question of how to continue to train young, and older, Western
Australians to take up the trades that will continue to boost our housing and
construction industry.
As we know, there is no place like Western Australia. It is a
great place to live. We have an amazing lifestyle, the strongest economy in the
country and, for any budding tradie, a pipeline of work as far as the eye can
see. We have averaged 3.6 per cent unemployment for the last three years. That
is the longest stretch on record. We have grown our economy by a quarter from
the pre-pandemic level and provided around $1 billion in cost-of-living
support. That is all possible because we have a government that looks after the
finances and can make the investments that we need.
We need more homes and we need the workforce to build them,
and that means doing all we can to do two key things—train our young
people and workers to make sure that they have the skills to take up the
opportunities right throughout our great building and construction industry,
and attract the skilled migrants that we need to come to Western Australia,
whether from abroad or over east. The Minister for Training and Workforce
Development has made some exciting announcements over the last 24 hours around
how we continue to boost our building and construction workforce. Yesterday, I was
with Minister McGurk at the Clarkson campus of North Metro TAFE, where building
and construction apprentices have had the opportunity to take up positions over
the last four years. Today, we have over 11 000 apprentices and trainees within
our community. That is 75 per cent more than we had just four years ago. We can
see that the policies that we have put in place are working and making a difference.
As I said, yesterday we were in Clarkson to provide more fee-free TAFE courses
for young people who are looking for traineeship or pre-apprenticeship
opportunities in many of the high-priority skills and trades that we need in
our construction sector. I met carpentry apprentices Dean and Jett onsite as
part of today's announcement about the group training organisation wage
subsidy program, which enables small and medium-sized builders to take on apprentices
at a lower cost. So far, it has helped 600 apprentices in the residential
construction sector. Today, we announced another $21.6 million to support
another 175 places. As I said, Dean and Jett were there to look on and provide
some advice to the minister and me in terms of how we performed in the press
conference. They were keen to point out, as was the company that they work for,
that these opportunities would not have come if it were not for the WA Labor
government providing subsidies to the construction training fund and the group
training organisations to ensure that we can
support apprentices to take up opportunities with small to medium-sized
builders.
Today, we also made another
important announcement about a program called Build a Life in WA. We signalled
that we will provide a $10 000 reward to people with skills in the construction
and building industry who come from the east coast and set themselves up for
the future in Western Australia. As I said today, if they are sitting at home
waiting for the next job to come on, why don't they get off their butt
and come to WA to experience the best lifestyle in Australia, the strongest
economy in Australia and the biggest pipeline of building and construction
opportunities in a generation. The minister will be putting the final touches
to this program and it will be available from
January 2025. This is another great opportunity to continue to boost our
housing, and building and construction industry, and continue to
supercharge our economy. If we are going to get more homes and houses into the
market, we need more workers, apprentices
and skilled tradespeople to build those homes. Today is a great example of how my government is supporting workforce development and training, putting in the
investments in a strategic way to make sure that we continue to attract the
builders and workers we need and boost the housing industry, which we all want.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.