Interview with Ben Fordham, 2GB

Event: Interview with Ben Fordham, 2GB

Date: 8 July 2026, 8.05am AEST
Speakers: Denita Wawn, Master Builders Australia CEO

Topics: Skilled migration, domestic apprenticeships.

E&OE

Ben Fordham, 2GB host: Let me quickly now go to Denita Wawn, who is the CEO of Master Builders Australia. They seem to be making these comments on this issue once a week, at least. She’s on the line. Denita, good morning.

Denita Wawn, Master Builders Australia CEO: Good morning.

Host: Seems baffling that in a skilled migrant program with a number of tiers, you could have tradies on the same level of urgency and necessity as actors, dancers, and animal trainers. That surely points to a broken system?

Denita: It is indeed, and as you say, we’ve been calling this ridiculous system out for years now. We want to see more Australians trained, but we have a massive tradie shortage at the moment. 115,000 more workers required for the residential building and construction industry alone. That means we need to bring in more skilled workers. We call for a skilled tradie pathway like our competitors, and we want to see more skilled workers coming into this country to build homes that we all desperately need.

Host: So, devil’s advocate, there are not Aussies that can fill these jobs, even in the next five six years?

Denita: Unfortunately, not. We simply haven’t had enough tradies go through the system, despite our best efforts. We’re really struggling to get the trade-qualified people in. We’re focusing heavily on attracting people, retaining people, but just not enough people want to be a tradie anymore. So, we’ve got to fix that problem, but in the short term, we need to ensure that we have enough skilled trades here in skilled migration, and that has waned over the last five years. We need both, and we’ve got to concentrate more on supporting trade apprenticeships, but we also need a priority focus on skilled trades in building and construction.

Host: And of course, Denita, when you’ve got the Government saying we’re going to build 1.2 million new homes between now and 2029, don’t worry, these unachievable targets. Someone needs to put the shovels in the ground. We need these tradies to do that. If the Government wants to get anywhere close to those national targets, they have to prioritise these workers under their skilled migration program.

Denita: Absolutely, we recognise we need more health workers, more teachers in this country, but also we’ve got to house everyone in the country. We need more people on job sites for residential building, and that doesn’t even include the fact we need more workers in the civil industry building the enabling infrastructure for homes to be built in the first place. We’ve got hospitals and schools to build as well, and of course, we’ve got the Olympics in Queensland, so there’s a lot of building to be done, not enough people to do it. I’d encourage the Government to fix up the skilled migration, but also encourage your listeners to really think about trades as a career as well. That’s going to be critical.

Host: Denita, we appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.

Denita: Thanks so much.

Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Adviser, Media & Government Relations

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