Amongst the congratulations are calls for a strong focus on building infrastructure, improving productivity and bolstering the workforce
With the Labor party elected back into government, calls from across the industry are for a renewed focus on house building and building supporting infrastructure.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) says that “all sides of politics must provide bold and courageous leadership to deliver on the nations critical housing shortages and meet the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes.”
HIA managing director Jocelyn Martin says that the federal government needs to play an active role in increasing house building across Australia.
“We’ve heard it too often – that housing and planning is a state issue, or that the Commonwealth has limited levers to pull. That excuse simply doesn’t stack up anymore.
“The federal government has the influence, the resources and the leadership role to bring all levels of government together. It can drive the coordinated policy, funding and reform needed to move the dial on supply and affordability — not just tinker at the edges.”
Civil Contractors Federation Victoria CEO Lisa Kinross also called on the government to “prioritise civil construction to deliver the enabling infrastructure in support of its housing, energy and workforce development agendas”, highlighting a range of pre-election commitments such as retaining a $125 billion national infrastructure pipeline, $10,000 apprenticeship payments for those entering housing construction trades, and fast-tracking the qualifications of 6,000 current tradies.
“Of particular concern to us is ensuring industry-led independent RTOs [registered training organisations] are not further marginalised in the push to develop the workforce needed to deliver housing and energy enabling infrastructure,” Kinross adds.
“The government has a huge opportunity now to reverse declining labour force rates and save money by investing in existing training facilities and capacity provided by independent industry and private RTOs that complement TAFE training.”
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Engineers Australia is also pushing hard for a national target for engineering graduates, saying that Australia needs an additional 60,000 engineers over the next 10 years. It is also pushing for the appointment of a national chief engineer to be a technical advisor to government.
The Australian Constructors Association (ACA) made a call for productivity to be at the ‘front and centre’ of the national agenda, with ACA CEO Jon Davies saying that this is necessary to prevent the costs of homes, infrastructure and essential services from continuing to increase.
“Construction is the engine room of the economy,” he says.
“Close the productivity gap and you ease labour shortages, lower building costs and take pressure off everyday Australians.
“The Department of Infrastructure is leading work on a National Construction Strategy to lift productivity in transport infrastructure projects.
“At the same time, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations is progressing a Blueprint for a more sustainable and productive sector through the National Construction Industry Forum.”
The Blueprint, developed by ACA with the NSW and Victorian state governments, aims to improve diversity, wellbeing and the work-life balance in the industry. Davies says it is time for this to be rolled out across the industry to effect change in the industry.
“There’s now a real opportunity to reshape the sector for the better,” Davies says.
“This includes rebalancing industrial relations to support a more productive, more sustainable and more collaborative industry.”