Interview with Tim Gilbert, Sky News

Event: Interview with Tim Gilbert, Sky News
Date: 28 September 2024, 8:20am AEST
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia
Topics: Labour shortages, Women in construction, Industrial action

E&OE

Tim Gilbert, Sky News Host: Now, a change of pace, the building industry still faces many challenges. Master Builders Australia forecasts the building and construction industry needs 130,000 additional workers this year. Joining me from Canberra is Master Builders Australia chief executive, Denita Wawn. Denita, good morning, that’s a big number.

Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: It’s huge. Unfortunately, that’s in addition to the 1.4 million people we already employ, we have a massive amount of work to do across the entire country, in residential, commercial, and civil and as a consequence, we’re grappling to get that work done. It’s part of the reason why we’ve got cost increases because we simply don’t have enough people.

Tim: Productivity has declined nearly 20% over the past decade. That is huge, and is that largely because of covid?

Denita: No, it’s not, unfortunately, Tim, there’s a range of impacts on productivity in the industry. It’s workforce shortages, its industrial relations impediments, it’s in relation to red tape, the compounding of red tape, and also the government’s not listening to how we best transition change in regulation and policies. So, a compounding impact of a lot of changes. And that is why we say to the government that if you’re going to build 1.2 million homes, that is the target of all governments, then we need to seriously look at those productivity impediments, and it’s not just one, you’ve got to focus on all of them and get heading in the right direction.

Tim: Now, you mentioned industrial action. We’ve all seen the well-publicised dramas with the unions, particularly in Victoria, can you give us, from your perspective, the impact it’s having on your industry?

Denita: This is a significant issue. Obviously, we supported the administration of the CFMEU. We thought it was an incredibly important first step. But no doubt, there are teething issues of getting control on the ground. We’re still seeing situations where coordinators and delegates are acting under the purview of executives in exile. We believe that governments need to act on the anti-avoidance provisions to ensure that we have appropriate action, but certainly we’re very supportive of the administrator, we will continue to do so. We want a lawful union. We want a union that we can work with, as opposed to creating menaces on the ground. So we understand the frustrations that are occurring on site at the moment.

Tim: How important is it to have more females in the building industry?

Denita: Critically important. First of all, it’s all about those workforce shortages, but we also know that when you have more, a gender balance within your workforce, you’re more productive. Highly one gender dominated industries are not as productive as ones with a mixed gender balance. So, we are very much encouraging women into the industry. Only 4% of our trade qualified people are women, and also only 14% of our workforce are women. So, we’re very much encouraging women into the sector. We have our Women Building Australia program, mentoring women, supporting women in their choices, and we strongly encourage women to seriously look at the industry. There’s huge opportunities and as I keep on saying, I don’t think AI is going to be taking over Building and Construction anytime soon.

Tim: No, absolutely and just quickly, trade apprenticeships. We need to put that in focus, don’t we, for young people, and talk to young people about, you know, the possibility of a wonderful profession through a trade apprenticeship.

Denita: That’s right. Tim, unfortunately, we’ve focused since the 80s, too much on university, and not enough about the opportunities in a trade. There’s a versatile way of doing trades these days. I was only having a conversation with one of my kids who’s just about to complete year 10, about an apprenticeship through school-based apprenticeships, where he can continue to work through school while undertaking the start of his apprenticeship. It’s a win-win situation. So worth conversations, there’s a lot of different pathways there, and we know that those opportunities and careers are available to young people, but also mature age. If people are having a bit of a career glut, there’s nothing wrong with a mature age apprentices as well and we see a lot of those come through the race and do extraordinarily welcome themselves.

Tim: Absolutely. Thanks Denita.

Denita: Pleasure. Thanks, as always, Tim.

Media contact:
Ben Conolly
Media & Public Affairs Senior Advisor
0423 151 666
ben.conolly@masterbuilders.com.au