Apprentices who work in residential construction would get a $10,000 cash bonus under an election policy to be launched by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the National Press Club on Friday.
The PM will frame the incentive as a double win, aiding “the next generation of tradies” while also providing a much-needed workforce boost to a construction sector that is struggling to meet the lofty goal of 1.2 million new homes in five years.
“Right now, a first-year carpentry apprentice earns about two-thirds of the minimum wage … As a number have said, they could earn a lot more stacking shelves in their local supermarket,” he will say, according to an excerpt of his speech released to media.
“Too many leave training, because they can’t afford to stay. Our government wants to encourage more Australians to get on the tools — and stay in construction.”
The scheme would pay apprentices in five $2,000 instalments over the duration of their apprenticeship, additional to any pay from their employers.
The cost to the budget would be $626.9 million, with funding already set aside in the mid-year budget update. That would be enough to fund just over 60,000 apprentices.
A similar Albanese government initiative for “green jobs” struggled to attract that many, with only 2,200 apprentices signing on for their $10,000 payment.
That forced the government to broaden the scheme to cover all trades workers in the energy sector, provided they perform at least some green tasks.
Mr Albanese will also announce plans to boost the allowance paid to apprentices who live away from home, currently set at $77.17 per week for the first year of training and lower for subsequent years.
Housing pitch to feature in looming election
The prime minister’s press club address comes almost exactly one year after he used a similar appearance to announce his plan to reallocate the stage three tax cuts to include middle and lower earners.
Though this broke a promise made before the election and repeatedly after it, it was well received by voters and the opposition waved it through the parliament after some grumbling, handing Mr Albanese a win to begin the political year.
While the apprentice payment is unlikely to be so consequential, it shows the government is keen to highlight its ambition to build more houses as a solution to the housing crisis, something it has sought to progress by paying states to reform planning laws and providing grants for social housing.
Labor’s housing platform will contrast with the Coalition’s approach, which does include supply policies but will also allow first homebuyers to use at least $50,000 from their superannuation for a home deposit, an idea housing economists say will add further fuel to prices.
But achieving the 1.2 million homes target, set in 2023 by a national cabinet dominated by Labor leaders, will be a tall order, not least because of construction workforce shortages.
Achieving it would require an extra 90,000 workers, according to an advisory group of construction industry leaders set up by the federal government.
Industry groups say more needs to be done to facilitate the migration of construction workers, especially given Australia’s workforce participation is already at record highs and the level of unemployment remains low.
Debate over TAFE sector
The skills sector will also feature in the campaign, with Labor already promising to make its “fee-free TAFE” subsidies permanent.
Liberal deputy and skills spokesperson Sussan Ley has portrayed that policy as a band-aid neglecting structural problems in the sector.
Earlier this month, she penned an opinion piece arguing Australia needed to shed “vocational cringe” and encourage kids to study trades instead of being a “university nation to a fault.”
“We’ve been pushing our kids to go to university. It’s led to a lot of them getting degrees they don’t use, and debt they can’t afford to repay,” Ms Ley wrote.
“In a world where Chat-GPT can pen an essay or a business plan in seconds, skills are fast becoming the most precious commodity in our economy … Who is going to build our nuclear submarines, or the houses we need?”
Mr Albanese will say fee-free TAFE “has given hundreds of thousands of Australians the chance to learn the skills they need for a career they want, or to re-train for a new opportunity, without the barrier of paying for the course.
“We want to expand on this success,” he will say.
