Labor to unveil incentive payments for housing sector apprentices
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The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce on Friday a $10,000 incentive payment to encourage more Australians to take up apprenticeships in the residential housing sector.
The numbers: From 1 July, eligible apprentices will receive five payments of $2,000 on top of their wages — the first after six months and the last at completion.
Labor hopes that encouraging more people into apprenticeships will bolster the workforce to deliver its 'Homes for Australia Plan', the government's target to deliver 1.2 million new homes over the next five years.
The cost to the budget for the apprentice’s incentive program is $626.9 million and is provisioned for in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The context: The new 'Key Apprentice Program' will include apprenticeships in occupations essential for residential construction, such as bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and joiners.
What they said: "... we recognise the next generation of tradies, the people we’re counting on to build the new homes we need, are under significant financial pressure," Albanese will say in a speech at the National Press Club on Friday.
"... This means that apprentices in residential construction will now get the same training incentives as those in the energy sector. More new homes, more new energy — and more support for the tradies who will build both."
The source: PMO media release
