Building sector appeals for tradies

"If we continue to rely on imported labour, there will come a time when we can't afford it." Warwick Quinn, Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation, left

Carla Tonga had every door in the building industry closed on her 20 years ago.

‘‘A lot of the time I wouldn’t get an explanation,’’ she said.

‘‘The barriers that we have today were a lot more apparent back then ... I’m a woman, that I’m a woman and I’m not strong enough, I won’t be able to keep up with the boys.’’

But now, Tonga was about a year away from finishing her apprenticeship, following stints in factories and as a labourer, working as a postie, studying visual arts, and even spending three weeks in Ethiopia building.

‘‘It’s everything I could have dreamed of. There’s so much about building that I still don’t know, but now I’m out in the real world I’m learning so much. I’m actually building and yeah, I love it.’’

There was still a problem, however: the country has a massive shortage of construction skills, and was four years away from the tap of new recruits being turned on fully.

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation has about 10,500 apprentices in training now, but about 28,000 tradespeople would be needed over the next few years, chief executive Warwick Quinn said.

‘‘We’re right behind the eightball. Ultimately, if we continue to rely on imported labour to do this, there will come a time when we can’t afford it.’’

BCITO last week launched a month-long road trip aimed at showing people what a career in trades offered, while at the same time having apprentices doing work with community organisations, charities, and schools across the country.

More than 60,000 new construction jobs were estimated to be needed over the next five years, but apprenticeships were thousands of people behind.

Quinn said there had been a period of six or so years of low training, as building slowed after the Global Financial Crisis.

There was a lag between employers picking up work and taking on workers, and while there had been the expectation a boom would come, nobody knew when.

Immigration had helped fix the problem in the interim, but dependence on others was not a great place for the economy to be.

Quinn said the road trip was about showing both school leavers, and their influencers, why a career in the trades was a genuine option.

The appeals included earning on the job, finishing study debtfree, and having the opportunity to build your own business.

‘‘Universities, I think they’ve done a fantastic job over the last generation. But there’s so many opportunities and so many pathways in construction.’’

Quinn said attracting people back to trades needed to include an emphasis on women as well, who made up just 6 per cent of the construction industry.

Tonga said she started to get job offers and see doors opening for her about a year ago.

An apprenticeship was the best way to get into the industry, she said, and while it was long hours and hard work, she loved it.

The stereotypes of women in construction endured, but the more women who became involved, the more it was normalised.

‘‘People only know what they’re exposed to, and if they’re only exposed to seeing men on site, then that’s the train of thought that they’re going to have, it’s nobody’s fault, it’s just the way society is.

‘‘I’m used to working around blokes, that’s why I find it hard to understand sometimes why people have a problem with it, because this is my normal.

‘‘I think people just need to be a little more understanding, a little more open, and then we can build houses.’’