❓ QoN about the Cook Labor government's training initiatives, specifically the bricklaying job-ready program, and its impact on the building and construction industry and housing supply. The Minister's answer highlights the program's success in securing apprenticeships and addressing skill shortages.
AnsweredQoN 925Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BUILDING AND
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY — TRAINING
925. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Training:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's significant investment in innovative training initiatives
to address skill shortages facing local economies.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how these new initiatives such as the free
bricklaying job-ready program are boosting the pipeline of skilled workers in
the building and construction industry?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these programs are allowing the construction of
more homes for Western Australians?
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY — TRAINING
925. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Training:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's significant investment in innovative training initiatives
to address skill shortages facing local economies.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how these new initiatives such as the free
bricklaying job-ready program are boosting the pipeline of skilled workers in
the building and construction industry?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these programs are allowing the construction of
more homes for Western Australians?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for the question. Suffice to say that the Cook government's
investment into training is ''paving'' the way for building and
construction careers and ''cementing'' a boost for the housing
supply across the state. Just last week, I met
a group of bricklayers in training. I was at North Metropolitan TAFE's Clarkson campus with the local member, Mark Folkard. Those bricklayers in
training told us that after completing the bricklaying job-ready program, they
had all secured apprenticeships, helping to meet the strong demand for
bricklayers in the local building and construction industry.
The job-ready program is part of the
Cook government's fee-free training initiative, and was developed in
consultation with Western Australian industries to deliver short, sharp
training and some wraparound support for entry-level job seekers and others who
want to get a taste and try to get their foot in the door with different
industries. It has been an incredible success. On completion of the job-ready
program, which can be as quick as three weeks, participants are directly
connected with opportunities to transition into
employment, to undertake an apprenticeship or traineeship with a participating
employer or to go into more formal training if they want to increase
their skills. Since its inception, the job-ready program has had over 2 500
participants, about half of whom have secured employment in the industry that
they have worked in or gone on to further training. I am pleased that about 440
of those commencements have been in the bricklaying job-ready program.
As members know, we are doing
everything we can to boost housing supply and affordability in Western Australia.
My job in that equation is to make sure we have the skilled labour to do the
work, whether that is entry-level bricklaying or the finishing trades with
cementing, tiling and the like. We are doing everything we can across the
continuum. The job-ready program is available across a range of different
industries to ensure that Western Australians, particularly people from the
vulnerable cohorts—those who have not had any experience, or a good
experience, in the workforce—can access affordable training to help them get jobs. To date, about
one-third of participants have been women, about 30 per cent have been
under 25 years of age and 19 per cent have been Aboriginal. Pleasingly, a quarter
of the participants have undertaken training in regional areas.
One of the people we met during our
visit to the Clarkson campus was 17-year-old Dylan Campbell, who had completed
the job-ready program —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Ms S.F. McGURK : Dylan had
completed the job-ready program at Clarkson TAFE. He went on to do a pre-apprenticeship and is now three months into
his apprenticeship with ABN Group. It was great to meet him. Dylan said
he was in school but he was not enjoying it. I do not imagine school enjoyed
him, either. He said that he was not going
anywhere, so he got into the job-ready program. He said, ''Once I started
laying bricks, I realised that I loved it. You get to just look at what
you've done and after you've finished doing a job, it just
makes you feel good.'' He gave a shout-out
to the partner organisations, the Housing Industry Association and Brick and
Block Careers, that are helping to deliver the program. He acknowledged
Rebecca at Brick and Block Careers who helped him with his job-ready program,
and Dee at ABN Group who helped him to get an apprenticeship.
It was a hot day out in Clarkson
laying bricks. I had a go at it.
Mr D.A. Templeman : How did
you go?
Ms S.F. McGURK : Not very
well. I joke, but I think I need a TAFE course in all these things. I came home
with some very credible cement on my trousers; it was good.
It was great to meet Dylan. It is
great to meet the people who support young people like Dylan to get a foot in
the door to industries and who love their new careers, traineeships and
apprenticeships. In the end, we will have more skilled Western Australians
producing housing in our state.
The SPEAKER : The member for
North West Central with the last question.
thank the member for the question. Suffice to say that the Cook government's
investment into training is ''paving'' the way for building and
construction careers and ''cementing'' a boost for the housing
supply across the state. Just last week, I met
a group of bricklayers in training. I was at North Metropolitan TAFE's Clarkson campus with the local member, Mark Folkard. Those bricklayers in
training told us that after completing the bricklaying job-ready program, they
had all secured apprenticeships, helping to meet the strong demand for
bricklayers in the local building and construction industry.
The job-ready program is part of the
Cook government's fee-free training initiative, and was developed in
consultation with Western Australian industries to deliver short, sharp
training and some wraparound support for entry-level job seekers and others who
want to get a taste and try to get their foot in the door with different
industries. It has been an incredible success. On completion of the job-ready
program, which can be as quick as three weeks, participants are directly
connected with opportunities to transition into
employment, to undertake an apprenticeship or traineeship with a participating
employer or to go into more formal training if they want to increase
their skills. Since its inception, the job-ready program has had over 2 500
participants, about half of whom have secured employment in the industry that
they have worked in or gone on to further training. I am pleased that about 440
of those commencements have been in the bricklaying job-ready program.
As members know, we are doing
everything we can to boost housing supply and affordability in Western Australia.
My job in that equation is to make sure we have the skilled labour to do the
work, whether that is entry-level bricklaying or the finishing trades with
cementing, tiling and the like. We are doing everything we can across the
continuum. The job-ready program is available across a range of different
industries to ensure that Western Australians, particularly people from the
vulnerable cohorts—those who have not had any experience, or a good
experience, in the workforce—can access affordable training to help them get jobs. To date, about
one-third of participants have been women, about 30 per cent have been
under 25 years of age and 19 per cent have been Aboriginal. Pleasingly, a quarter
of the participants have undertaken training in regional areas.
One of the people we met during our
visit to the Clarkson campus was 17-year-old Dylan Campbell, who had completed
the job-ready program —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Ms S.F. McGURK : Dylan had
completed the job-ready program at Clarkson TAFE. He went on to do a pre-apprenticeship and is now three months into
his apprenticeship with ABN Group. It was great to meet him. Dylan said
he was in school but he was not enjoying it. I do not imagine school enjoyed
him, either. He said that he was not going
anywhere, so he got into the job-ready program. He said, ''Once I started
laying bricks, I realised that I loved it. You get to just look at what
you've done and after you've finished doing a job, it just
makes you feel good.'' He gave a shout-out
to the partner organisations, the Housing Industry Association and Brick and
Block Careers, that are helping to deliver the program. He acknowledged
Rebecca at Brick and Block Careers who helped him with his job-ready program,
and Dee at ABN Group who helped him to get an apprenticeship.
It was a hot day out in Clarkson
laying bricks. I had a go at it.
Mr D.A. Templeman : How did
you go?
Ms S.F. McGURK : Not very
well. I joke, but I think I need a TAFE course in all these things. I came home
with some very credible cement on my trousers; it was good.
It was great to meet Dylan. It is
great to meet the people who support young people like Dylan to get a foot in
the door to industries and who love their new careers, traineeships and
apprenticeships. In the end, we will have more skilled Western Australians
producing housing in our state.
The SPEAKER : The member for
North West Central with the last question.
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.