Doorstop - Parliament House, Canberra

SIMON CROFT, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION: It’s fantastic to be here today in beautiful Ainslie in Canberra. We are joined here today by the Skills and Training Minister, Minister Andrew Giles. He has been a fierce advocate for our industry, and about boosting apprentices that we desperately need for our industry to build the homes that Australia needs.

He’s also been out talking about the opportunities, not just to be able to look at skills and training through the same lens that we have over the past 20 years in this country, but looking about how you might be able to have a look at a career change, about supporting employers to take on apprentices, and also about the different opportunities that exist in this great industry.

We are really pleased to see the latest apprentice data coming through, and about keeping apprenticeships. It’s been hard enough to get people in the door, but we also need to maintain them throughout their life. Our industry has got so many different opportunities, and we are joined today on site here with Hardwick Projects, one of Canberra’s great local builders, undertaking great renovation work in this beautiful suburb.

Sean has been telling me about how he’s had eight apprentices over his lifetime. He’s got those apprentices that have been award-winning apprentices, also now supporting the industry beyond that, teaching the new trainers, the new apprentices coming through. And we’ve joined today by Harry, a second-year apprentice, mature age apprentice.

Fantastic apprentice that just signifies to our industry about what is possible. I’ll pass over to Minister Giles, and great to have him here out in Canberra. Thank you, Minister.

JOURNALIST: What’s it like to be here, and how important has this program been for not just capital cities but also the regional areas too? ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks Simon. It's great to be here with the HIA, and can I acknowledge Sean and Harry too who have been showing us around this beautiful renovation project in Ainslie on a not too cold Canberra winter morning.

Look, what we're seeing here is the outcome of a lot of hard work. And can I say everyone, there has never been a better time than now to pick up the tools and become a tradie through an apprenticeship like the one that Harry’s making his way through right now. We've got some great data now from Jobs and Skills Australia which shows that the average uplift of someone completing an apprenticeship or a traineeship is $29,800.

That's a really, really good reason to think about this pathway. But there's so many other reasons too. That sense of contribution, to contributing towards building a home in which a family will make their life right around the country.

Building more homes requires more tradespeople and we are seeing more tradespeople, thanks in large part to decisions made by the Albanese Labor Government. Free TAFE has seen 73,000 enrolments in construction courses. The Key Apprenticeship Program, $10,000 for apprentices, $5,000 currently for their employers, has seen 32,000 in its first year.

And in the first month of that second year we've seen 3,400 more apprentices sign up. These are real outcomes, making a real difference, building careers while building our nation, literally. And we've seen a really big uptake in the regions when it comes to Free TAFE, and of course the Key Apprenticeship Program.

Disproportionate to numbers in the region, we’re seeing a really big take-up because people see the possibilities of a great, secure job, and a career of contribution in the states. JOURNALIST: Is there still more work to be done within, and to keep up, I guess, the demand for long term – we say that we’re potentially not going to meet that housing target. You guys are working to do that.

But is this a shortfall when it comes to training up the next generation to be able to build those housing? Simon from the Housing Industry Association made a really big point. We’re turning around a cultural issue in Australia that’s been going on for decades, where we haven’t valued trade pathways enough.

That has changed under the Albanese Labor Government. We've got to do more to get people into apprenticeships and we've got to support them to get through their apprenticeship too. And that's what this program really is about.

Recognising that apprentices are under cost of living pressures, so giving them that additional support on the way through. We also know there isn't a silver bullet here. We've got to make sure we're doing absolutely everything we can do encourage people into the trades, to look at quicker accreditation for skilled migrants to make sure they're on the tools more quickly, to do absolutely everything to recognise that there are a lot of people out there who may be a trades assistant or a labourer, who've built up a lot of experience but haven't got that formal qualification.

So we're working on a plan to make it easy for them to become qualified too. We know there is more to do. We know this requires constant vigilance and constant attention.

That's what we’re committed to doing. JOURNALIST: How does it line up when it comes to the housing target and also the number of apprentices? Are we seeing sort of that balance and the succession going forward?

The targets on both sides are really ambitious. and we should be ambitious for Australians, because building homes for Australians is about as important as it gets. I'm really proud to say support the work that my friend Minister O’Neil is doing in doing everything with a laser-like focus to attack those housing targets. What I'm trying to do is be consistent with that to make sure that we’ve got the workforce out there.

Part of it's about incentives. Part of it's about looking at the skills assessment for migrants. Part of it's about looking at different ways to attract people into these vital industries and wonderful careers.

But part of it's also about sending a message out there to parents, to young people, to people thinking about a career change possibly because they're wondering about the impact of AI. Just telling people that there are great jobs out there that are well paid that involve making a big contribution. JOURNALIST: I might just get Simon quickly.

Just in regards to does it weigh up? We obviously spoke to the Minister, obviously a politician, so of course he's going to say, but from a housing industry point of view, does it weigh up? We do know to meet the government's 1.2 million homes target we need to be – something in the region of our top 12 trades, with 83,000 tradies.

We are seeing some positive numbers coming out about that one, but we do know that there is a massive skills crunch in this country. There's a lot of competing priorities. There's a lot of competing industries that are all probably trying to tap into the same pool.

We've seen data centres, we’re seeing large government infrastructure builds. We've seen a range of different programs that are all sort of trying to get into that same pool of workers. So as the Minister said, we need to remain vigilant.

We need to be continuing to talk up our industry. Too often I hear it's either uni or a trade. It's always uni first, trade second.

Or say if you're not doing well in school then do a trade as a back-up. We need to change that fundamentally. I know the Minister has been talking strongly about that.

This is one of our most passionate areas. We need to continue to just talk up the trade as a long-term rewarding career, not as a second choice career, and remove that stigma once and for all. We need our schools to be better promoting it.

And we also need to look at new ways of entry into the industry. We have gone and said, okay, and we say to the school leavers of 2026, we've got a fantastic industry for you to come into, well-paying, earn while you learn, don't go out with a massive HECS debt, and you've got a career for life that you can work anywhere around Australia. So we need to be promoting these careers, but we also need to look at other ways we can bring people in.

We need to look at some of the skill sets, we need to look at different vendor credentialing, micro-credentialing, to be able to get them in and have different ways because our industry is changing. The way we are building is changing also. Modern methods of construction are continually looking and bringing new ways.

So we also need to look at our training systems to be more responsive for it, and we do need to continue to boost up our skilled migration at the moment in the industry, particularly in the residential construction industry. We're not being able to tap into that pool particularly for those most in demand and the most difficult to pull in. Bricklayers, concreters, roof tilers.

These are the types of ones we need, and particularly in regional Australia. Regional Australia is booming. One third of the population now live outside of our capital cities, and that is growing.

But they also, everywhere I go to, talk about the skill shortages in the regions being even more pronounced than in our cities. So we need targeted programs for the regions as well. JOURNALIST: Are there enough builders to be able to take on those apprentices in the regions or is that – still needing to increase that?

We need a hundred more Seans everywhere who's willing to try and take on the new apprentices because without an employer the apprenticeship opportunity doesn't get created. The $5,000 priority hiring incentive that the Albanese Government has brought in has been fantastic. We do know that has been really important to sustain the bringing people in, taking them on, mentoring them, because it's an important role.

We don't talk enough in the country about the role the employers take. We always talk a lot about trying to make sure we can get the young people coming in to do the apprenticeships. We also need those employers.

The employers play such a critical role and that financial support to be able to do that mentoring is really critical and we need to continue to support them year on year because without them we don't have those apprentices coming through of those opportunities being created. JOURNALIST: What's it like to, be part of training that next generation? Was it an important part of your company in response?

SEAN HARDWICK, HARDWICK PROJECTS: I mean, it all comes down to experience, and for myself I really enjoyed my carpentry experience. My tutoring and my training and now I'm in a position where I can foster apprentices like Harry, and bring them through which is vital part of our industry. JOURNALIST: It must be good to have extra hands on a job to get things done quicker.

Does it get things done quicker? When they're handy as Harry, it’s a good thing. But I mean, we try and foster a good culture as well at Hardwick's trying to improve our systems all the time so it's exciting for them.

We want them to learn, you don’t just want them to sweep floors. JOURNALIST: What's the biggest challenge or prevention that you have? Young kids, maybe someone older that's wanting to switch from an office job, is there big preventions that are stopping them from entering an apprenticeship?

Could you ask it again? JOURNALIST: Is there any preventions, like is there a stigma? You know how Simon talked about there is a stigma around if it's the last option or it's the second option.

Is that something that you experience every day? Oh look, not really, I don't think. The stigma for myself, it's a really good industry, it's an enjoyable industry.

You’re paid to learn. And I don't think there's any, as far, stigma involved. JOURNALIST: What would you say to someone that has a company that could potentially have the opportunity to train up the next generation?

Look, I mean, for those out there that they want to take on apprentices. It can be a daunting thing, I'm sure. But with the right training and the right passion towards, in our case, carpentry.

And that's what's going to bring apprentices through, seeing you enjoy it. JOURNALIST: Is that sort of you're hoping that you will, I guess, inspire the next generation through, obviously you're teaching them, but is there a, once you retire one day that you know that you've built the next – There’s definitely always legacy in the back of your mind. But look, as far as training apprentices, something that needs to be done, like it's, we need to train these guys up to be able to take on projects like this that are quite complex.

JOURNALIST: Talk to me a little bit about why you entered the trade and carpentry. HARRY KOSMIDIS, APPRENTICE: I could have picked another trade, but I much prefer bespoke work. I much prefer something where I can work with my hands, and do something more in the space of artisan design.

Where, you know, that predates the death of Christ. I was just talking to the Minister before about that. Definitely something a bit more on the art side of things as opposed to plumbing or a sparky apprenticeship.

JOURNALIST: That was something that – have you learned over time that you sort of were able to craft that skill set? Definitely, I've always just been working with my hands and from my last apprenticeship, I've always found more fine motor skilled work is more suited to me. JOURNALIST: Had you always envisioned becoming a tradesman and entering the building industry?

It's definitely been at the back of my mind. I've got family in the building industry, down the coast, a few of my family are builders. So it's always been in the back of my mind.

We're talking about breaking that stigma, it was on the back for me. But I'm here now and I'm ready to get into it. JOURNALIST: What's it been like the first sort of couple – how long have you been doing it so far?

I've been in it for two years and – right now I can tell you it's cold, but you know that's something that I'll get used to hopefully. JOURNALIST: And seeing a house be transformed. Is that the vision later on in life?

You can say done ticked off, give the keys back over to the owner. Definitely. It's definitely fulfilling driving home after handing the keys over in a handover process.

You can sleep at night. Definitely. Brilliant.

JOURNALIST: Favourite thing about the job that you've found so far? First it was the tools, because they were cool, but now it is a lot more of a fulfilling experience to be able to see those clients happy, seeing your work with a smile on their face, seeing a family in the habitat that you created, I think that's beautiful. JOURNALIST: And what advice would you give to someone that might be at home, sitting going, I don't know what to do with my life or wanting a career change?

Get out there, get after it. No time like the present. JOURNALIST: And knowing that you're potentially building the next generation of housing, does that sort of – is that, I guess, an exciting process?

It's very fulfilling. Definitely.