A veteran builder has slammed the Albanese government for being ‘incompetent’ by not prioritising migrant tradies in the middle of a housing shortage.
The QHI GROUP CEO Scott Challen is outraged that yoga instructors, niche martial artists and dog handlers have all been included on Jobs and Skills Australia’s draft priority skills list when the country desperately needs more tradies.
The jobs on the list are placed into three categories: ‘confident’ to be on the list, ‘confident’ to not be on the list, and ‘targeted for consultation’.
Painters, roof tilers, and stonemasons have been placed in a category that needs further consultation before they are included or rejected by the government.
Those on the ‘confident’ list are eligible for ‘fast-tracked’ visas, including those who earn more than $130,000 a year.
Mr Challen, who has worked in the construction industry for over 20 years, views the list as a joke in light of the Albanese government’s plan to build 1.2million homes over the next 10 years to ease the national housing crisis.
Veteran builder Scott Challen has questioned the government over a shortage of migrant tradies and labelled Anthony Albanese ‘incompetent’
Yoga instructors have been placed on Australia’s skilled migration list, whilst many trades need ‘further consultation’
‘What we’re seeing right now is pure and utter incompetence,’ he told Yahoo.
‘The industry is all saying that because there was absolutely nothing in the federal budget, other than lip service towards making it possible.’
Mr Challen, who owns Smartkits Australia, Ezy Blox living concepts, Online Steel, Approval Masters and Queensland Home Improvements, believes the planned new houses will ‘never happen’ and that the government isn’t even on track to reach the target.
The entrepreneur admitted a big challenge with overseas tradies is that their qualifications aren’t always recognised in Australia.
Many international workers have to retrain when they arrive in the country and when they are allowed to work in the industry, their hours are restricted.
In response to the tradie shortage, the Albanese government promised $90million in the 2024 Budget to pay for an extra 20,000 fee-free TAFE places.
The government has planned to build 1.2 million homes over 10 years, but a Jobs and Skills Australia draft priority skills list does not prioritise professions such as painting – which would help them achieve this goal
But BuildSkills Australia revealed in March that in order to keep the government’s goal on track, an extra 90,000 construction workers were needed in just a few months.
BuildSkills head of research, Rob Sobyra, has submitted to the government’s draft migrant policy list and cannot understand why tradies weren’t at the top of the list.
‘Does the world really need more yoga instructors at this point in time? From the perspective of our social and economic priorities, it would seem to us that we should really be prioritising basically any skilled trade,’ he said.
Other trades that have been listed for consultation are chefs, cooks, bakers, managers, IT workers, accountants and hairdressers.
A record 528,000 migrants arrived in Australia during 2022-23, but the Treasury is forecasting the number will drop to 395,000 in 2023-24 and further decline to 260,000 in the coming financial year.
The permanent migration program will then be capped at just 185,000 places in 2024-25 – with 132,200 places allocated to skills that ‘help address Australia’s long-term skill needs’.