00:00Skill shortages have been a problem in Australia for a long time, not just the construction
00:07sector, but all over the place.
00:10And I think COVID highlighted some of those really critical shortages that we have in
00:14things like health and retail and building construction.
00:18This announcement today is a really good step.
00:22It's not going to solve our problem in the short term.
00:25This was a pre-election promise.
00:27But I think long term, if we can provide more incentives and more reasons for young people
00:31to look at trade apprenticeships and other pathways outside of university, that will
00:37help with our skill shortages.
00:39But again, it's something that we've got to consistently do over the next four to five
00:42years. Completion rates have always hovered around 50, 55 percent.
00:46And the cost for a young person is always an issue when you're doing an apprenticeship
00:51in the first couple of years.
00:52So staggering those payments over five payments and having a completion payment is a bit of
00:59a financial incentive that may sort of attract and keep young people in their trade to get
01:03fully qualified. I think our system was designed to attract young people leaving secondary
01:08school or very early in their age progression in their career, like 16, 17, 18 year olds.
01:15And the wages in our IR system were designed to reflect that.
01:19In reality today, the average age of a starting apprentice is 22, 23 years of age.
01:24And for female apprentices, it's even a lot older.
01:27So they've got higher expenses, living costs.
01:31They've got more responsibilities when they're that age.
01:33So the wage incentives to help sort of understand and reflect those changes in the economy
01:40today, I think is a good step.
01:41Young people are questioning, what am I going to do for the next few years?
01:45I'd certainly like to see our secondary school systems provide more opportunity for young
01:51people to try careers and get real life work experience before they have to make a four
01:57year commitment to something, whether that's university or an apprenticeship.
02:01I think that's one of the reasons we're seeing really low completion rates in everything
02:05our youth does.
02:07I think they have a very narrow view of what the career pathways are, what does the job
02:13really look like?
02:14And I think we've got to spend more time giving young people an opportunity to explore that
02:19before they have to make a decision.
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