Australian Brick & Blocklaying Training Foundation’s (ABBTF) say their efforts to increase training numbers for bricklaying apprentices are being thwarted by Government policies.
The foundation claims that while the policies appear to assist young people in their apprenticeship, they are not assisting the employers who provide the employment and training.
According to the ABBTF, the Government’s $4,000 in subsidies for apprentice employers has remained unchanged for the last decade and the two temporary periods of Kickstart bonuses over the past five years have not been extended and fail to provide the ongoing certainty that small business desperately need.
The ABBTF also pointed out that many employers have also had to pay higher training fees for their apprentices due to State Government cuts to TAFE funding.
With bricklaying apprentice numbers falling by 30% in the past two years and concern that with the ageing workforce, many contractors are close to retirement, the ABBTF has called on whichever Government that is installed on 7 September to examine their policies in relation to Vocational training and jobs to ensure a serious skill shortage in bricklaying and other construction trades does not occur.
