Master Builders Australia has praised the Federal Government’s Home Builder scheme for driving economic recovery as vaccines start to roll out and pandemic lockdowns subside. “It’s even more proof that a stronger building industry means a stronger economy,” Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said.

“Home Builder will support $18 billion in new home construction and $50 billion in economic activity across the wider economy. The surge in new home construction being driven by Home Builder has averted the valley of death that was confronting residential builders and tradies due to the pandemic,” she said.

“There is no doubt that the Federal Government’s decisive action to implement Home Builder in the eye of the COVID storm saved the day for thousands of small builders and tradies, the people they employ and communities they support around the country,” Denita Wawn said.

“The success of Home Builder also demonstrates that measures that support people to overcome the deposit gap is a game changer in making home ownership available to more Australians,” she said.

Private sector house approvals rose for the sixth consecutive month in December, seasonally adjusted, and reached a record high according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, Director of Construction Statistics at the ABS, said: “Approvals for private houses rose 15.8 per cent in December, while dwellings excluding houses rose 2.3 per cent.

“Private house approvals were strong across the country, with Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia hitting record highs in seasonally adjusted terms. Federal and state housing stimulus measures, along with record low interest rates have contributed to strong demand for detached dwellings.

“Despite the uncertainty experienced by developers and households during 2020, the total number of dwellings approved in the calendar year was 4.8 per cent higher than in 2019,” he said.

The total number of dwellings approved rose 10.9 per cent in December. Dwelling approvals rose across all states, in seasonally adjusted terms. Tasmania led the way, rising 66.5 per cent, followed by Queensland (24.0 per cent), South Australia (16.7 per cent), Victoria (8.6 per cent), Western Australia (7.8 per cent) and New South Wales (1.8 per cent).

Approvals for private sector houses also rose in all states in December; South Australia (33.6 per cent), Victoria (17.2 per cent), New South Wales (16.2 per cent), Queensland (7.5 per cent) and Western Australia (5.3 per cent).

The value of total building approved rose 4.9 per cent in December, in seasonally adjusted terms. The value of non-residential building drove the increase, rising 10.1 per cent, having fallen 27.7 per cent in November.

The value of total residential building increased 2.3 per cent, comprising a 1.4 per cent rise in new residential building, and an 8.1 per cent increase in alterations and additions. The value of residential alterations and additions reached a record high in December.

The closing of the Goondicum mine was a blow for the community in central Queensland but presented a unique opportunity for CSS member DJ’s Steel & Concrete.

The Goondicum mine in central Queensland had a pretty rough trot. The ilmenite mine, which opened in 2007, had faced a series of stops and starts before finally closing down in 2019. Ilmenite prices had crashed around the world, just as the region was in the grip of drought, creating a double blow to locals. But out of a crisis came an opportunity for CSS member DJ’s Steel & Concrete, who received a contract from the mine’s owners to decommission the site.

“We’ve been involved in this particular project for about 10 years,” says Damien Zieth, co-owner of DJ’s Steel & Concrete, which supplies construction, engineering and fabrication services as well as operating hardware retail outlets. “The site wasn’t financially viable, so the bits and pieces got sold off .

“Probably one of the biggest parts of the plant was the feed prep. We had been involved in supplying to the mine from day one, so our knowledge up there gave us a bit of a foot in the door when it came to decommissioning.”

Decommissioning mine sites is pretty unusual work. According to Jess Mollenhagen, who managed the project for DJ’s, “In the mining sector, a lot of mines are sold as an ongoing concern, which means a smaller company would come in and take up where the larger company perhaps couldn’t make it viable. So this is not a very common thing. I haven’t experienced too much of it since I’ve been in the industry. You very rarely find yourself dividing up pieces of equipment as we’ve done here.

“We do a lot more with construction, not deconstruction,” she adds. “So it was an interesting project for us because when you start pulling things apart, it’s a little bit different to putting things together or maintaining it. This is a standalone project, compared to what we’ve done before. But nevertheless, it was something where we were quite familiar with the equipment. It made the job or the task a little bit easier for us because we knew the way the equipment worked and how we needed to go about pulling it down, deconstructing it, so we can then get it out.”

DEADLINE LOOMS

The feed prep plant in the mine is the facility that washes, crushes, sorts and prepares the minerals for transport to market from the port in Gladstone.

“With this project and with the area and the layout of the site, when we talk about feed prep, we’re talking about the whole process from the ROM, which is your run of your mine, through to your crushing circuit, through to your conveyors, your screens, trommel scrubbers and all those sorts of things,” explains Mollenhagen. Which was a big enough job in itself—but they had the added challenge of deadline set by legislation. If they missed the deadline, they couldn’t take the equipment offsite. “Once the site becomes an abandoned mine it’s handed back to the government,”

Mollenhagen explains. “Whatever is left on the site then becomes property of the government. You can ask for an extension, but the obstacle that we faced then was it was an election year in Queensland, and the job started just before the state election on 31 October. To be able to get that processed and through the government would be near impossible.”

The mine’s owners had sold the equipment to a South African company. So, the challenge for DJ’s team was to get the equipment offsite and off to a port in time. “And before we can actually load onto the truck, we have to ensure that the equipment’s actually adequately cleaned to ensure it will pass quarantine,” Mollenhagen explains. “And when we pull it apart, we need to document the way that we pulled it apart, so they know how to put it back together when they get over there. So that entailed getting 3D scanning of all the equipment, and every piece of equipment needs to be numbered, and then there needs to be instruction on how that piece of equipment goes back together as well.”

THE MOVING CHALLENGE

The challenge wasn’t just in the detail of dissembling and labelling roughly 400 individual items. The equipment involved was often huge. “With the drive over crusher bin, for instance, we had two dozers working on that for about two weeks just to move away the earth around that, so we could actually pull it out,” says Mollenhagen. “Some of these pieces of equipment are large. For instance, the scrubber base is 42 tonnes. So we had to mobilise larger cranes to site. We had a 130-tonne crane onsite to assist with the deconstruction of it. Obviously with that, we had all the electrical requirements as well. So we had to pull and wind all your electrical cabling, all your conveyor belts and then commence dismantling the equipment.

“Probably the biggest obstacle we had was getting it offsite. Where this mine sits, you’ve got to go through about six to 10 causeways. So it makes it really, really difficult to get the equipment offsite. It’s quite a rough road to get there, and that poses a bit of an issue within itself. So altogether we looked at about 50 truckloads to get the equipment offsite.”

From beginning to end, the physical work of taking the plant apart took about three months (not counting the preparatory work that went into it). And while this type of work isn’t common, it’s opened up a window of opportunity for the expertise DJ’s team has developed.

“Obviously, we were happy to come across it, it was a great opportunity,” says Mollenhagen. “But with that being said, if there were more jobs out there like this, we’d be certainly happy to take them on as well.”

Although numbers are reportedly up for female tradies in construction and mining, there’s a lot more to be done to connect the dots with industry and women workers. By Rachel Smith

Seeing female workers on the tools is becoming more commonplace, and industry experts say that’s a great thing. But although women’s participation in trades and technical occupations has increased from 10-15 per cent in NSW between 1987-2012, it’s not the full picture.

“Saying the numbers are climbing might be true but those figures include architecture, project management, engineering and admin,” says Dr Donna Bridges, who’s working on an ongoing research project at Charles Sturt University on women in manual trades. “When you actually break it down and look at women in the skilled trades like carpentry and electrical, that workforce is still only 1-3 per cent. It hasn’t changed in 30 years.”

WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT’S NOT

Apprenticeship networks say the skill shortage in Australia remains a challenge—and that demand is there for more women to adopt careers in trade industries. However, steering female students towards those pathways is tough.

“Young women make absolutely brilliant tradespeople,” says Kris McCue, CEO at DGT Employment and Training, “but there’s still a perception among some people that jobs in trades like construction or mining is a boys only option.” And female students who have good grades are often talked into going to uni instead of doing a trade, adds Dr Bridges. “There’s also this perception in schools that students who aren’t doing well can ‘just get a trade’ but that’s actually not true. Do you want a carpenter working on your house who can’t do maths? You’ve got to be quite bright to do a trade and our research shows that employers who do hire women are really happy—their female tradies are focused, they don’t muck around, they get the job done. It’s not just men who can put a nail in a wall or fix a car.”

WHY A CULTURE CHANGE IS NEEDED

Diversity targets mean many large blue-chip companies are crying out for more women on the tools, but this isn’t always the case with smaller employers, says Colin McCabe, general manager at MEGT. “Large companies have sophisticated candidate attraction strategies,” he explains, “but your local plumber—who may be happy to take on a female apprentice—may be apprehensive about how to go about it and probably wouldn’t be getting any female applicants.”

And although there are many female tradies who are thriving, lots aren’t getting in, says Dr Bridges—and if they are, they’re dropping out because in some areas of construction, the culture contains a level of bullying or sexism and this is an impediment.

“During industry consultations it has come up that some men want the freedom to talk about sex at work or refer to women colleagues sexually,” says Dr Bridges. “Women not liking this can be seen as an issue. In most workplaces this is considered inappropriate. I do think that some areas of the construction industry need to get with the program on how people should behave at work.”

TAKING A TARGETED APPROACH

Peak groups like Women in Construction are doing good work, says McCue; “They’re actively helping businesses come up with ways to engage young women and promoting the benefits of employing them. Try a Trade is also a good way for young girls to get a sense of what’s involved in a job. And there has to be that messaging that engages young women as well as young men.”

Dr Bridges agrees and says that while government wants women in these roles, any initiatives driving change aren’t integrated. “They’re missing something. There needs to be social and traditional media campaigns similar to the Australian Defence Force; their marketing shows young women doing these jobs and that becomes attractive to young people. We need to talk to small businesses and find out how we can support them in hiring females, too.”

Ultimately, the demand is there, says McCabe. “The challenge is to encourage smaller employers to get on board and realise the amazing benefits to hiring women, and to let young women know about the opportunities that are out there, many of which have lucrative salaries. If you complete your apprenticeship and have a trade, you can be set for life.”

“I always wanted to do something with my hands and I’m glad I changed careers…

“After high school, I went to uni, got a degree in business management and ended up working in finance. But I wasn’t happy. I’d always fantasised about doing more of a physical hands-on role, and when I was 24, the department I worked for was made redundant, and I used that opportunity to go back to study. I’m now in my final year of a four-year apprenticeship as a heavy diesel fitter, working fly-in-fly-out on a BHP mine site.

It has had its challenges and can be exhausting at times, but the sense of accomplishment and fulfilment is huge, and I know there is a potential to be able to make a comfortable life for myself when I finish my apprenticeship.

“Being in a pure male dominated environment has been a mixed bag. However, during this experience I’ve grown a lot and have built a great deal of confidence and independence, and I feel like I can achieve anything. That sounds clichéd, but it’s true. I will say it’s taken a while for some workers to respect and understand having women in this environment. Nothing changes overnight. It’s a

process. I think it’s fantastic that there’s more of a trend for women getting into non-traditional manual trades—I never took that route when I was out of school because it didn’t even occur to me it was an option.

I’m proud of being a part of something that hopefully no longer will seem so different, as it becomes more common, but we still have a long way to go.”—Quuystn Lu, 28, heavy diesel fitter

Encouraging more mature age apprentices to take on a trade will become more important than ever as Australia tries to meet labour demands in the aftermath of the pandemic. By Cameron Cooper

As Australia seeks to build its way out of a post-pandemic economic malaise, an army of mature age apprentices is likely to play a key role in the rebound. The Federal Government has promised to fast track infrastructure projects worth $7.5 billion as part of its October 2020 budget announcements, creating the hope of a pipeline of initiatives that will keep building and construction workers busy across many trades for years to come.

“It’s the best decision ever,” says Terry McEvoy, director of the Department of Trades and Engineering Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology. “The way out of our economic crisis will be through infrastructure growth, and apprentices can get on a trade now and know that work won’t be slowing down for another 10 to 15 years.” He expects mature age apprentices—defined as those aged 21 and above—to especially embrace the flexibility of working for a company, subcontracting or starting their own business. “The world’s their oyster—and having a trade behind them gives them those choices.”

BARRIERS TO CLEAR

While the long-term outlook for mature age apprentices looks positive, some training programs have taken a hit during COVID-19.

Dale Scott, a field officer at industry association Master Plumbers, says in Melbourne, for instance, stage 4 lockdown rules have reduced the allowable number of workers on construction sites. As a result, many apprentices have experienced roster cuts. Nevertheless, he says there is anecdotal evidence during the crisis to suggest that older workers are seeking a career change, including pursuing licenced registered trades such as plumbing and electrical. “They are highly desirable in that they’re more bulletproof than other trades,” Scott says.

One challenge for mature age apprentices is that industry regulations dictate that they initially receive a higher rate of pay, regardless of their experience. This can put them at a hiring disadvantage when competing with similarly skilled teenagers. Scott advocates incentives for employers—along similar lines to the Job Keeper wages subsidy that the Australian Government has introduced during the pandemic to help pay employees’ wages—to offset some of the imposts of older apprentices. “It’s a tricky balancing act, but it would be nice to see something similar to Job Keeper for mature age apprentices.”

To further embolden the industry, McEvoy also calls for greater funding of training organisations to ensure they can prepare the industry leaders of tomorrow. “From a selfish perspective there needs to be that investment so we have the latest technology and the latest understanding to keep our staff up to date,” he says.

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES THE KEY

It is clear that the Australian Government wants to back the apprenticeship space, with employers in October praising a new wages subsidy as Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged to add 100,000 apprentices and trainees by paying half their wages over the next year. The $1.2 billion commitment came on the back of funding earlier this year whereby small businesses were offered up to $7000 of wage assistance each quarter in a bid to retain existing apprentices and trainees.

With Job Keeper winding down, Canberra has also unveiled its Job Maker hiring credit program in a bid to generate jobs. Under the scheme, employers will receive a credit for each new job they create —$200 a week for 16 to 29-year-olds, and $100 a week for 30 to 35-year-olds.

While Scott welcomes Job Maker, he doubts it will specifically assist mature age apprentices. “An employer who is looking purely at the dollars will take the younger apprentice and take the Job Maker incentive as well.” He hopes some bosses will regardless use the subsidies to take on older workers at lower overall hiring costs. McEvoy is confident wages subsidies, while not perfect, will “make a big difference” and help employers, apprentices and training organisations.

WHAT BUSINESSES CAN DO

There were 272,505 apprentices and trainees in training as of March 2020, a decrease of 2.9 per cent from the year before, according to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research. The hope is that a post-pandemic building boom can boost numbers.

Scott says trade-based businesses can play their part in bringing on more mature age apprentices simply by having an open mind about the benefits they deliver. Too many bosses, he believes, simply employ younger apprentices because of cheaper hourly rates. “It’s about trying to go beyond the dollars to see the value you can get out of a mature age person and the value they can bring.”

With their extra maturity and life experiences, he says mature age apprentices often bring a higher level of stability and commitment— and register fewer sickies—than their younger cohorts. Many of them have already worked in the building and construction sector, and some may have multiple skills across disciplines such as carpentry, welding and boilermaking. “So when you can pick up someone like that, it’s a real bonus.”

For its part, Master Plumbers practises what it preaches, charging out its mature age apprentices at the same rate as juniors. “We take a hit on them initially, but we understand that we usually get an employee who is lower maintenance and who we get good reports on in terms of feedback.”

McEvoy agrees that mature age apprentices represent a great investment, including the growing band of female workers in the trades. “They have life experience and can set goals and targets and manage their own time,” he says. For those seeking a viable long-term career, he endorses an apprenticeship as the starting point. “If you’re a mature age person looking for a career change, trades are an absolute monty. They open so many doors.”

If you want to become a mature age apprentice or are a business looking to hire one, contact Master Plumbers (plumber.com.au) or its apprenticeship and labour hire division (plumber.com.au/pav).