Interview with Jamie Burnett, 6PR

Event: Interview with Jamie Burnett, 6PR

Date: 22 June 2026, 3.15pm AEST
Speakers: Melissa Byrne, Master Builders Australia National Director for Policy & Legal

Topics: Latest apprentice data

E&OE

Jamie Burnett, 6PR Radio host: Now, as I said off the top, data out today showing construction apprentices have sunk to a five-year low… Melissa Byrne will have a few ideas. She is the director of policy at Master Builders Australia. Good afternoon Melissa.

Melissa Byrne, Master Builders Australia National Director – Policy & Legal: Good afternoon Jamie.

Host: How concerned are you by this trend?

Melissa: Well, we’re very concerned. It’s not a good look is it when the Federal Government is committed to building 1.2 million homes by the middle of 2029 and we’re looking at workforce shortages in the order of 300,000 workers needed to deliver the infrastructure pipeline that we have and over 115,000 workers just needed in the housing sector to build the homes we need to meet these targets. So, it’s very concerning and the Federal Government from our perspective isn’t doing a lot to support the workforce skills that we need.

Host: Yeah, I want to dig into that in a moment, but I suppose right now we don’t have enough labour to build what we need. Off the back of these figures. probably safe to assume that’s only going to get worse Melissa?

Melissa:  Look, I don’t want to be a doomsayer, but it appears that way. Our completion rates aren’t great. They sit at about fifty percent and what these figures show is that we’re losing more than we’re gaining.

Host: So the completion rate, that’s interesting. So only half are getting through? That’s the big issue here. It’s not necessarily finding the youngsters off the bat to get into apprenticeship; it’s holding them for the full term?

Melissa: Well, it’s actually both. So, attracting young people to the industry these days, I think it’s certainly an attraction to sit at home making videos and trying to make money online rather than going out on a construction site and doing some hard yacka and then keeping them engaged for that sort of three to four year period of an apprenticeship is really hard. And as you sort of alluded to in your introduction, you’ve got businesses out there who are doing what they can, but they’re just drowning in red tape and the idea of looking after a young person for three or four years just doesn’t stack up at the moment.

Host: That’s interesting. So, you think it’s the mentality of the kids that’s a big part of it?

Melissa: I think so, that’s some of the feedback that we’re getting. There’s a lot of young people that try it out and don’t like it and just, you know, in construction industry you can’t offer a work from home option which lots of people are attracted to at the moment. So, it’s very hard to attract people to industry in the first instance.

Host: What about the first few years in terms of wages? You know, when I’ve talked about this stuff in the past, I’ve had people call in and say, you know, if I didn’t have the support of my parents, I wouldn’t be able to survive on that wage, you know, going through a real cost of living crisis at the moment. Is that a significant barrier for young people to see through an apprenticeship currently?

Melissa: Look, I think it’s one of the barriers. I don’t think it’s the only one, as we’ve been talking about. Feedback from our members is that often to keep good young people on the tools, you pay them better than the minimum rates anyway. So, in our experience it’s only in sort of a minor number of cases where you’re actually paid that minimum rate under the award and often, as I said, to keep people engaged and connected, they’re getting paid more than that really.

Host: So, most builders are paying their apprentices over the award, are they?

Melissa: That’s our understanding. Particularly if you’re covered by an enterprise agreement, the rate those EBAs are higher than the minimums under the awards.

Host: Alright, you’re listening to Melissa Byrne, the Director of Policy at the Master Builders Australia… Melissa, off the top, you spoke about the Federal Government. What are the incentives that you think are now essential, much needed to kind of reverse this trend?

Melissa:  Well, we’ve actually just seen in the recent Federal Budget cuts to apprentice incentives and support for employers. We think that there’s a model out there called the Group Training Organisations. And so the Group Training Organisation actually employs the apprentice and then puts them with host employers that are sort of like a central employment arrangement and that way that apprentice is looked after. There’s a lot of mentoring involved in that process and then they place them with the best fit in terms of host employers. So, we would like to see more support for that model. Equally we’d like to just see more incentives and financial support for both employers and the apprentices to encourage people into the trades.

Host: At what point does an apprentice become cost neutral or go the other way with a builder? At what point do you see them not being, I suppose, a financial burden towards and actually generating income for the business?

Melissa: Yeah, it’s generally about year three of the four years. So that’s how long, you know, members tell us it takes for them to become more autonomous and can carry out tasks more independently.

Host: All right, good to chat Melissa, thanks for your time.

Melissa: Thank you so much.

Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Media Advisor

0497 330 064 |  dylan.hafey@masterbuilders.com.au