❓ The Minister for Training details how a $93.4 million investment will support workforce participation, particularly in the construction sector, through apprenticeships, traineeships, and skilled migration, citing positive industry feedback and increased apprenticeship numbers.
AnsweredQoN 324Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BUILDING
AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
324. Ms A.E. KENT to the Minister for Training:
I refer to the McGowan
Labor government's $93.4 million investment in the budget to increase
workforce participation in Western Australia.
Can the minister advise the house how this investment will support more Western
Australians to secure a job and create a pipeline of workers in
critical, high-priority industries, including the healthcare and construction
sectors?
AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
324. Ms A.E. KENT to the Minister for Training:
I refer to the McGowan
Labor government's $93.4 million investment in the budget to increase
workforce participation in Western Australia.
Can the minister advise the house how this investment will support more Western
Australians to secure a job and create a pipeline of workers in
critical, high-priority industries, including the healthcare and construction
sectors?
AnswerView source ↗
I am very pleased to be able to address this issue. Like the
Premier, I listened to the Leader of the Opposition's budget reply
speech and heard him refer to the budget as being full of smoke and mirrors. In
the area of training alone, $93.4 million would buy a lot of smoke and a lot of
mirrors. That was an extraordinarily naive and ignorant thing to say. These are
real initiatives that are making a difference to people's lives. We
will spend $93.4 million across a range of initiatives that have been largely
created as a result of talking to industry about what it wants and what
challenges it has with getting skilled labour in particular.
I will look first at the construction industry. The
government is very focused on that industry across a range of different portfolios. In my area of training, $27 million
from the construction training fund will go towards encouraging more
local construction businesses to take on local apprentices and trainees. That
is a significant increase, up from $10 000 to $12 000, for local businesses to
take on apprentices in the construction industry. At the end of April, I was
pleased to announce with the Minister for Housing a $47.6 million boost to the
workforce. Part of that announcement was $11
million for the introduction of a targeted visa subsidy program to support Western
Australian construction businesses to attract and employ overseas
skilled workers over the next two years. About 1 100 skilled workers will come
across for that program. We announced that program with the Housing Industry
Association. The other M. McGowan—Michael McGowan—was there for
that announcement. The HIA's press release on this announcement states —
''The Government's
investment of $11 million to support skilled migration and its continued
support of apprentices in this budget is an important step in the right
direction to improve labour supply.
The HIA was fulsome in its support. In a letter to the
Premier, Mr Michael McGowan from the Housing Industry Association said —
On
behalf of Housing Industry Association and our members, I would like to
congratulate you on delivering another successful budget �
�
Of particular note is your support
of HIA's proposal to subsidise the migration of 1,100 skilled workers
into the residential and commercial building industry. HIA is proud to have
worked on this initiative with your government and we look forward to its
successful implementation over the next 12 months.
That is what we do, members: we
listen, engage and work with industries on the solutions they need to target
particular areas of concern. We are working very hard on that area,
particularly around the construction industry. Our announcement includes a whole
lot of initiatives, particularly in the construction industry, to enable group
training organisations to access support for apprentices and trainees. This
program was initially dedicated to state government construction projects, but
we have extended it. Some of those employers will be able to get a subsidy of
up to $134 000 for a four-year apprentice or trainee in their industry. It is a
significant subsidy.
The sort of investment that we are
putting in place across the board is paying dividends. The number of building and construction apprentices, including electrical
apprentices, has reached record levels, finishing 12 per cent higher compared with last year. It is a significant increase. More than 45 000
apprentices and trainees are in training this year,
which is 1 600 more than last year. A figure that came across my desk and that
struck me was a comparison of commencements with pre-pandemic numbers. The
number of commencements in February this year was 70 per cent higher
than in February 2020. We are starting to see the results. We are working on
targeted programs, such as in the health sector through the support for diploma
of nursing students that we announced up in Port Hedland. We were also up there
to offer support, through targeted programs, for apprentices and trainees who
need to have time off the job in regional
WA. We are working on women in non-traditional trades, we are targeting older
workers and we are doing a whole lot of dedicated work to make sure that
Western Australians have access to free courses and a record number of
discounted courses so that they are able to skill up to meet the needs of WA
employers.
The SPEAKER : The member for
Central Wheatbelt with the last question.
Premier, I listened to the Leader of the Opposition's budget reply
speech and heard him refer to the budget as being full of smoke and mirrors. In
the area of training alone, $93.4 million would buy a lot of smoke and a lot of
mirrors. That was an extraordinarily naive and ignorant thing to say. These are
real initiatives that are making a difference to people's lives. We
will spend $93.4 million across a range of initiatives that have been largely
created as a result of talking to industry about what it wants and what
challenges it has with getting skilled labour in particular.
I will look first at the construction industry. The
government is very focused on that industry across a range of different portfolios. In my area of training, $27 million
from the construction training fund will go towards encouraging more
local construction businesses to take on local apprentices and trainees. That
is a significant increase, up from $10 000 to $12 000, for local businesses to
take on apprentices in the construction industry. At the end of April, I was
pleased to announce with the Minister for Housing a $47.6 million boost to the
workforce. Part of that announcement was $11
million for the introduction of a targeted visa subsidy program to support Western
Australian construction businesses to attract and employ overseas
skilled workers over the next two years. About 1 100 skilled workers will come
across for that program. We announced that program with the Housing Industry
Association. The other M. McGowan—Michael McGowan—was there for
that announcement. The HIA's press release on this announcement states —
''The Government's
investment of $11 million to support skilled migration and its continued
support of apprentices in this budget is an important step in the right
direction to improve labour supply.
The HIA was fulsome in its support. In a letter to the
Premier, Mr Michael McGowan from the Housing Industry Association said —
On
behalf of Housing Industry Association and our members, I would like to
congratulate you on delivering another successful budget �
�
Of particular note is your support
of HIA's proposal to subsidise the migration of 1,100 skilled workers
into the residential and commercial building industry. HIA is proud to have
worked on this initiative with your government and we look forward to its
successful implementation over the next 12 months.
That is what we do, members: we
listen, engage and work with industries on the solutions they need to target
particular areas of concern. We are working very hard on that area,
particularly around the construction industry. Our announcement includes a whole
lot of initiatives, particularly in the construction industry, to enable group
training organisations to access support for apprentices and trainees. This
program was initially dedicated to state government construction projects, but
we have extended it. Some of those employers will be able to get a subsidy of
up to $134 000 for a four-year apprentice or trainee in their industry. It is a
significant subsidy.
The sort of investment that we are
putting in place across the board is paying dividends. The number of building and construction apprentices, including electrical
apprentices, has reached record levels, finishing 12 per cent higher compared with last year. It is a significant increase. More than 45 000
apprentices and trainees are in training this year,
which is 1 600 more than last year. A figure that came across my desk and that
struck me was a comparison of commencements with pre-pandemic numbers. The
number of commencements in February this year was 70 per cent higher
than in February 2020. We are starting to see the results. We are working on
targeted programs, such as in the health sector through the support for diploma
of nursing students that we announced up in Port Hedland. We were also up there
to offer support, through targeted programs, for apprentices and trainees who
need to have time off the job in regional
WA. We are working on women in non-traditional trades, we are targeting older
workers and we are doing a whole lot of dedicated work to make sure that
Western Australians have access to free courses and a record number of
discounted courses so that they are able to skill up to meet the needs of WA
employers.
The SPEAKER : The member for
Central Wheatbelt with the last question.
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