Interview with ABC News Mornings

Event: Interview with ABC News Mornings

Date: 7 October 2026, 9.30am AEST
Speakers: Denita Wawn, Master Builders Australia CEO

Topics: Coalition’s migration policy, workforce shortages

E&OE

ABC News host: The construction sector has welcomed the Coalition’s move to prioritise skilled migrants in its proposed migration policy, but it says it needs to see the plan in more detail. If elected, the Coalition would drastically reduce net overseas migration to 100,000 in the first two years, and tie migrant intake to the pace of home building. Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn joins us now to discuss this. Denita Wawn, welcome. What is your assessment of what’s being proposed by the Coalition?

Denita Wawn, Master Builders Australia CEO: It’s certainly good news for skilled migration, particularly in the building and construction industry. We have been lobbying for a long period of time for skilled migration to prioritise our industry, particularly skilled trades, and instead at the expense of university-qualified skilled migrants. So, it’s good news on that front. The Coalition have also said that they would ensure that the backlog of applications by skilled tradies would be fast tracked and get them through into the system. We have reservations, though, about the significant cuts in temporary visa holders. We know that we utilise those in the industry for semi-skilled, unskilled work, and the jury is still out when it comes to determining the impact that the decisions announced yesterday will have in that part of our workforce.

Host: So, if migration numbers are cut overall, could this policy make numbers in the construction industry worse?

Denita: Well, at the moment, we need to have a serious conversation with the Coalition about those numbers. As I said, we’ve got to do an analysis just about the impact of their decisions relating to the temporary visa holders when it comes to semi-skilled and unskilled. To put it into context, we’ve got a significant shortage at the moment, around about 140,000 odd short, we currently employ 1.4 million. Most of that 140,000 odd is skilled migration. So, the focus on skills, people that have got qualified trades coming into the country, is welcome. The question is about that semi-skilled and unskilled labour workforce, so we need to have some conversations with the Coalition about that, once we’ve done that full analysis of the impact.

Host: And I mean, you talk about the shortfalls there, but Master Builders has projected a shortage of more than 900,000 workers by 2035. So, within the decade, how else will the industry find enough workers?

Denita: Well, first and foremost, we need to focus on Australians undertaking work in the building and construction industry. We’ve had 30 odd years of people just not starting a trade. We still have less than 5 per cent of our trade workforce are women. So, the focus for the industry and governments needs to be on ensuring that we encourage more people into a trade as they are completing school or looking at a second career. But we also need to rely on skilled migration as we’ve done in decades gone by, and that’s where we need to ensure that skilled migration in building and construction, with a focus on trades, is a priority for Government, and certainly that was the focus of the Coalition yesterday, but more needs to be done. We need to be looking at the Pacific Island Workers Scheme, extending that to the building and construction industry, and we believe with the international students, maybe instead of going and doing a university degree, they could also be allowed to do an apprenticeship. So, more work needs to be done, not only with the Coalition, but also the Federal Government and One Nation as well.

Host: The Coalition says fewer migrants will ease pressure on housing. Do you agree? Do we know to what extent is so?

Denita: Well, the jury again is also out on that one because it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation. We know that every migrant that works in the building and construction industry will contribute to around about 20 odd homes in their career. So, we know that skilled migration and migration generally is important for us to build. So, the Coalition, I understand the reason why they’re concerned about migration having an impact on housing, but equally we cannot build if we do not have the workforce, and so we need to ensure that there is an adequate workforce available for the industry not only to build homes, but also our schools, our hospitals, our roads, and our major infrastructure, such as what is happening in Queensland at the moment with the Olympics. So, it is a fine balance, and anyone dealing with migration can’t focus on the impacts of demand without looking at the impacts on supply of the workforce as well,

Host: Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn. Thank you for joining us.

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

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