Apprentices: $10,000 to help Anthony Albanese keep job

Anthony Albanese will pay Australians to take up and complete construction apprenticeships in a bid to salvage Labor’s promise to build 1.2 million homes by mid-2029.

Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

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Anthony Albanese will pay Australians to take up and complete construction apprenticeships in a bid to salvage Labor’s promise to build 1.2 million homes by mid-2029, as the government splashes almost $14bn on its Building Australia’s Future re-election plan.

The Prime Minister will use a major speech in Canberra on Friday to set out Labor’s post-­election vision, reset his political fortunes and reassure voters that the government will provide more cost-of-living relief for struggling households.

Amid crippling labour short­ages in the construction sector and concerns about soft building activity, Mr Albanese will end months of government inaction and provide $10,000 cash incentives to boost tradie numbers across the country.

With about 50 per cent of ­people not completing construction apprenticeships, Mr Albanese will use five $2000 incentive payments staggered over three years to keep apprentices attached to employers and the residential housing sector.

The $626.9m apprentice incentive program continues Mr ­Albanese’s big spend in January, with other Building Australia’s Future announcements including $7.2bn for the Bruce Highway, $3bn for the NBN, $2bn for the aluminium industry and more than $1.1bn for housing, flood ­resilience and community infrastructure.

As Mr Albanese and Peter Dutton duel over multibillion-dollar announcements to end the nation’s housing crisis, the Labor leader will say “our government wants to encourage more Australians to get on the tools – and stay in construction”.

“We are going to provide more support for tradies while they’re training. We will be raising the ­allowance paid to apprentices who are living away from home, the first time this payment has been increased since 2003,” Mr Albanese will say.

“And in occupations essential for residential construction jobs like bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and joiners, we will be providing eligible apprentices up to $10,000 through our new key apprentice program.

“These apprentices will receive five payments of $2000 each, on top of their wages – the first after six months, the last one paid on completion.”

The Albanese government, which will release the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System on Friday, is replicating the existing clean energy support program to provide direct support for tradie apprentices.

Labor had opposed Coalition-era models paying wage subsidies of up to 50 per cent to employers during the pandemic over fears the subsidy could be skimmed or used as leverage to retain workers.

Employer groups are calling for a wage subsidy model that lifts apprenticeship completion rates while acknowledging the time, costs and administrative work undertaken by construction firms.

The government’s top-up for tradie apprentices builds on ­existing $5000 payments, which are frontloaded rather than ­staggered.

The Australian understands occupations not covered by the tradie apprentice incentive program will be separately assessed by Build Skills, which falls under Jobs and Skills Australia.

Mr Albanese, who will use the speech to provide more details about Labor’s Building Australia’s Future plan and launch attacks on the Opposition Leader’s Getting Australia Back on Track plan, will say he is supporting a new army of tradies to build “more new homes, more new ­energy”.

He will say Labor’s plan for the future is about more than bricks and mortar, “it is about people and investment in skills”.

“We recognise the next generation of tradies, the people we’re counting on to build the new homes we need, are under significant financial pressure. Right now, a first-year carpentry apprentice earns about two-thirds of the minimum wage,” he will say.

“Some apprentices earn even less. That’s before you buy tools, safety gear, clothing and boots. As a number of apprentices have said, they could earn a lot more stacking shelves in their local supermarket. Too many leave training because they can’t ­afford to stay.”

Under Labor’s apprenticeship incentive program, starting from July 1, eligible apprentices will receive $2000 at six, 12, 24 and 36 months, as well as at the completion of their training.

Ahead of last year’s budget, the Albanese government announced skills assessments would be fast-tracked for 1900 British and foreign tradies to help plug labour short­ages across the construction ­sector.

Based on building activity trends, revealed in updated Australian Bureau of Statistics data this week, Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association have warned that Labor’s pledge to build 1.2 million new, well-located homes between mid-2024 and mid-2029 will fall short by about 350,000.

The Albanese government’s $32bn Homes for Australia plan, which underpins its 1.2 million new homes promise, includes the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, $9.3bn national agreement on social housing and homelessness and $3bn new homes bonus.

The Coalition has announced initial housing and migration election policies, including $5bn for water, power and sewerage infrastructure to unlock up to 500,000 new homes, a freeze on further changes to the National Construction Code for 10 years, a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes, a reduction in permanent migration and slashing the number of foreign students at metropolitan universities.

Mr Dutton, who on Thursday visited the battleground southern NSW seat of Gilmore held by Labor on a 0.2 per cent margin, said “We’ve got a long way to go … a first-term government hasn’t lost since 1931”.

“History is against us, but I do believe that we’ve been a disciplined opposition. We’ve put a lot of work into policies, and a lot of those we’ll announce as we get closer to the election. But I think we have demonstrated that we have the capacity to be the alternative government and we’ve kept pressure on a bad government,” he said.

Mr Dutton has embarked on a nationwide campaign visiting Labor, teal and Greens seats targeted by the Coalition.

In contrast, Mr Albanese has visited vulnerable ALP seats over summer in a bid to sandbag electorates ahead of a tight election battle.