Federal Government’s Fee-Free TAFE policy won’t brick up the cracks in Australia’s housing sector, the Housing Industry Association has warned.
Anthony Albanese’s election promise hit a wall with the nation’s peak housing body last week, which believes it will do little to address the ongoing housing crisis.
Designed to address Australia’s acute skills shortage, the proposal aims to build up the number of tradies across various in-demand industry sectors by offering more than 100,000 fee-free TAFE places.
However, industry leaders have begun questioning the plan’s structural integrity, calling for a rethink before permanent legislation cements what they believe is a flawed initiative.
HIA Managing Director Jocelyn Martin criticised Fee-Free TAFE, declaring the proposal a surface-level solution to a much deeper problem.
“The focus on Fee Free TAFE is distracting from the real issue facing the supply of housing in Australia,” Martin said.
“Successive governments have been aware of the persistent and structural skill shortages across key construction trades for decades, and the current policy approaches are doing very little to shift the dial.”
The HIA’s stance reflects that while free TAFE sounds promising, it may not deliver the industry-wide overhaul the residential construction sector desperately needs to fix Australia’s housing woes.
They have called on the government to adopt a more dramatic policy stance and take a broader approach to educating more tradies about the tools by addressing five key areas of concern.
HIA’s five tools to fix the tradie shortage
- Apprenticeship Employer Support
At the heart of HIA’s concerns is the need for stronger support for apprentices and their employers.
Currently, small subcontractors are responsible for training apprentices, but the associated costs and red tape often deter them from hiring young workers. HIA believes a more attractive and streamlined subsidy system is essential to giving small businesses the confidence to invest in the next generation of tradies.
“We need a long-term commitment to the apprentice employer wage subsidy model, one that recognises the contribution the employer makes to training, is indexed and attracts apprentice commencements and prioritises completion,” Martin said.
- Simplified Skilled Migration
HIA has also called for reforms to skilled migration, highlighting that domestic recruitment alone is insufficient to meet Australia’s construction workforce needs.
The current visa system is overly complex and unsuitable, creating bottlenecks in getting skilled workers on-site when needed most. To address this, HIA is pushing for a tailored construction trade contractor visa that aligns with the unique way work is arranged on building sites.
“…the domestic workforce will just not give us the 83,000 workers we need to build 1.2 million homes,” Martin said.
- Promoting Trades as a Career Choice
Another cornerstone of HIA’s recommendations is a national campaign to promote trades as a legitimate and rewarding career path within schools.
The association argues that young Australians must see the benefits of trade qualifications and view them as a viable alternative to university degrees.
HIA believes a coordinated, government-backed workforce development campaign could transform perceptions of the construction industry and attract more people to pick up the tools.
“There needs to be a concentrated effort to educate people on the benefits of a trade qualification,” Martin said.
- Retention Through Mentorship
High dropout rates among apprentices remain a persistent problem, with many leaving their training programs within the first two years.
According to HIA, industry-based mentoring programs and group training organisations are key to reversing this trend. These programs provide young apprentices with the tools and support they need to navigate the challenges of entering the workforce, improving completion rates and ultimately increasing the number of skilled workers entering the industry.
“Retention rates are much better for apprentices through industry-based mentoring programs, including group training organisations, where support and guidance are key aspects,” Martin explained.
- Improving Industry Culture
Finally, HIA has stressed the importance of addressing the negative stereotypes and unacceptable behaviour that have tarnished the industry’s reputation.
Reports of poor workplace culture, including bullying and unsafe practices, have created barriers to attracting new workers from more diverse backgrounds.
“Confidence must be restored to construction sites to attract the workers the industry desperately needs,” Martin said.
Builders Demolish Free TAFE Plan
The HIA wasn’t the only construction organisation to pour concrete over the government’s proposal, with the national building industry body Master Builders Australia (MBA) also downing tools on the initiative.
As Build-it reported last week, Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn claimed, “Free TAFE initiatives unfairly distort the market towards TAFE-delivered courses over industry-led providers.”
Wawn argued that the initiative does little to solve the skills shortage and instead shifts existing workers around the system.
“We have not seen the free TAFE policy bring more people into building and construction apprenticeships; rather, it has simply reshuffled the deck,” she said.
The MBA also expressed concerns about the anti-competitive nature of the program, which they believe excludes not-for-profit and private training organisations from government funding. Wawn called the proposed legislation “anti-competitive and [one that] creates a market distortion.”
Opposition Slams the Scheme
The Liberal Party has also weighed in on the debate, with Sussan Ley, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Skills and Training, criticising Labor’s Fee-Free TAFE plan as ineffective and poorly thought out.
“I again urge Anthony Albanese and Skills Minister Andrew Giles to listen to those closest to the skills crisis and shelve their efforts to legislate this failing program,”
Ley pointed to declining apprentice numbers and worsening skills shortages despite the $1.5 billion already spent on the program.
“What we do know is, despite Anthony Albanese spending over $1.5 billion on Fee-Free TAFE, we have seen apprentice and trainee numbers drop by 80,000, and skills shortages have worsened,” Ley said.
“Australians rightly expect their tax dollars to be spent on programs that work,” Ley said.
