Bruce Allen is a veteran architect with five decades of experience in urban planning and community development. He warns against believing political pledges to have tens of thousands of new homes built overnight in Victoria. The housing crisis, exacerbated by a shortage of skilled tradies such as carpenters, glaziers, plumbers, and electricians, continues to delay building projects across the state. As property prices surge, many are left questioning whether recent announcements from major political parties will effectively address the underlying labor shortages.
The lack of skilled labor is dragging out production schedules. This disruption is further putting upward pressure on property prices across Victoria. Allen, an industry veteran who has watched the industry’s transformation through the decades, bemoaned the difficulty in recruiting a trained workforce.
“I just cannot understand how they think we can build that many houses in the short time available. Even if we imported migrant skilled labor, it takes a while for that to happen.” – Bruce Allen
Abdul Rivzi is an aspiring tradie with three years experience as a carpenter in India. He has encountered very high barriers to recognition of his skills in Australia. Rivzi loves the international experience that he brings to the table but finds this background is often overlooked in the local job market.
“I’ve got three years of experience in India but that would get discounted here because it’s not Australian experience. That is where I really struggled, but I think most of my skills actually come from my Indian experience.” – Nishriti Shetty
The immigration and visa system is also repeatedly called out for its failure to bring skilled tradespeople to Canada. It further prevents those already in Australia from contributing productively to the workforce. Will Frogley, CEO of Master Builders South Australia, stressed that a large number of the skilled tradespeople are already in-country. Yet they have great difficulty getting jobs in their fields of study.
“A lot of them are already here; they might have a background working in construction in their home countries but they might be driving Ubers or stacking shelves… we’d like to get them working in our industry because it is causing delays.” – Will Frogley
As an example, South Australian branch recently started their own agency, to address that skills gap. In tandem with Baltic Connections, this new migrant labor program purportedly places 1,500 migrants in building sector jobs. This initiative aims to fill skill gaps and better equip migrants to find work in their destination country. The program has already identified 700 international student graduates and 90 skilled migrants with permanent visas as potential local workforce contributors.
And while recent efforts to address this gap may seem promising, key challenges still persist. Their ability to migrate here and plug those gaps is hindered by strict English language requirements for highly trained craftsman from non-Western countries. Rivzi underscored this point as a major obstacle in recruiting the best and brightest talent from abroad.
“Most of the people who are skilled say carpenters, joiners, bricklayers etc., from outside western nations will tend not to have the English language requirements to enter Australia.” – Abdul Rivzi
Supporters say that both major political parties are at fault for repeatedly kicking the can down the road on these urgent matters. As they trade blame with one another, a growing number of stakeholders—local governments, the business community, climate activists—are pushing for something more than rhetoric.
“Both major parties have been at fault in terms of addressing these issues and yet the finger-pointing is all we get; there’s no details on what they are actually going to do.” – Anonymous
