Labor’s Budget Reply an important construction to national debate

The Budget Reply Speech is an important contribution to the national debate.

“Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s focus on training more apprentices and building more new homes is a positive contribution to the Budget debate,” Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said.

“Supporting TAFE is commendable as it is an important part of the training system. But Master Builders will engage with Labor on the need to support an open and contestable national training system that provides students and employers with choices to access the most relevant training to secure a job,” she said.

“Quality must be the primary focus of the training system, not whether it’s delivered by public or private providers. The Opposition Leader is right to focus on apprenticeship completion rates. In our industry the highest apprenticeship completions and best job outcomes are achieved by industry RTOs,” Denita Wawn said.

“Support for skills and education must be balanced with encouragement for business to grow and create jobs,” she said.

“Labor’s contribution to the housing affordability debate and commitment to keeping homeownership within reach is positive. But making dramatic changes to property taxation is not the solution, and will damage housing markets outside of Sydney and Melbourne which are at different stages of the cycle,” Denita Wawn said.

“The building and construction industry needs political leaders to boost confidence by supporting positive policies” she said.

“Master Builders opposes scrapping financial incentives to states and territories that will tackle the structural factors driving up house prices and speed up the delivery of infrastructure to support more new housing,” Denita Wawn said.