Radio Interview - Lucy Breaden, ABC Hobart Drive

LUCY BREADEN, HOST: So if you've ever thought about pursuing a trade, I want to know, how would a $10,000 boost help make up your mind? Would it give you that extra boost you needed to take on an apprenticeship? Between June 2024 to June 2025, trade apprenticeships fell by 7.3 per cent and non-trade apprenticeships by 20.2 per cent, which does raise concerns about skills shortages across the country. Six months ago, the Federal Government introduced a $10,000 incentive to help new housing construction tradies. So how has it encouraged more people, if so, to pursue a trade? Let's find out with the Federal Minister for Skills and Training, Andrew Giles. Welcome to the show, Minister. 

ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Thanks, Lucy. Great to be chatting with you. 

BREADEN: So let's talk a little bit about how this apprenticeship program works first. $10,000, an incentive there. What do people need to do to be able to get their hands on that money? 

GILES: Well, they need to have a training contract in an occupation that's linked to building houses, which is obviously such an important goal across Tasmania and indeed across Australia. And we've seen nearly 300 Tasmanians take advantage of it in the first six months. And as I've been in the state the last day or so it's pretty clear to me that obviously the start of the year is peak sign-up time, that many others like Xander who I met in Launceston yesterday are taking advantage of this. 

BREADEN: Okay so numbers, Tasmanian numbers. How many signing up here? 

GILES:Just under 300 in Tasmania in that first six months. So we're seeing a really big – carpenters, glaziers, plumbers, electricians. These are fantastic jobs and in trades that involve making a real contribution to something tangible. And there are skill shortages. There have been for a long time. We're determined as a government to turn it around and say to young Australians, and indeed not so young Australians too, that there's never been a better time than now to pick up the tools, become a tradie and make that contribution. 

BREADEN: So you mentioned they need a training contract to be able to get the $10,000 incentive. What does that mean? Does that mean that they need to be at TAFE?

GILES: That means an apprenticeship, basically. That means an apprenticeship. So often the trade school part of an apprenticeship is done through TAFE but it can be done through other providers, industry-based normally. 

BREADEN: And so 300 Tasmanians, thereabouts, have taken up this, have taken up the incentive, got their hands on the incentive so far. Are you happy with those numbers?

GILES: Look, I'd always like them to be bigger, and they are growing all the time. But things like your show highlighting this just might switch on a few people, whether it's individuals or parents perhaps, to the fact that there is this help out there. And when we talk about the $10,000, I think it's really important to emphasise a couple of things. Firstly, it's not in one hit. It's at five instalments over the life of an apprenticeship, because we recognise that apprentices generally aren't paid an enormous amount. Cost of living pressures are high. We want to help them over that journey. Not just to start, but to make sure that more people finish their apprenticeship. We're also putting on the table $5,000 for employers as a bit of an incentive to get them to think about training a young Tasmanian rather than looking for someone who's already qualified. 

BREADEN: We've heard over the course of the past few days that some parents have been calling up saying ‘my child has been really trying to get in to get an apprenticeship, it is quite hard.’ They've been doing unpaid work for weeks on end. Is that fair? 

GILES: I don't think it is fair. And I think we've got to look at all of the ways in which we can open the doors to someone getting an apprenticeship. One of the ways we've done so is we've funded, as the Commonwealth Government, the Albanese Government, a number of free pre-apprenticeship places to be done through Free TAFE. Which we know is a great way, firstly, to get into an apprenticeship and completing one is a fantastic predictor of finishing that apprenticeship too. But it's about, I guess, doing all that we can to open these doors for young people.

BREADEN: Lucy Breaden with you on Drive on 936 ABC Radio Hobart and this is Andrew Giles, the Federal Minister for Skills and Training. We are talking about apprenticeships. So apprenticeship numbers are down at the moment. From June 2024 to 2025, trade apprenticeships fell by 7.3 per cent. So the Federal Government has $10,000 on the table saying if you get an apprenticeship, a training contract, we will give you that money in instalments to basically help you out, because we know you’re not the highest paid out there when you start. On the text line, someone says ‘it’s not that the kids need an incentive to take up an apprenticeship, the challenge is that there aren’t many apprenticeships for them to apply for. We’re surrounded by good kids who finished school in the last two years who are applying for any apprenticeship they can find, and they’re having no success.’ Andrew Giles, why is that the case? Why are apprenticeships actually few and far between?

GILES: Well, what I would say is that we are incentivising employers to take on apprentices, but in a range of areas, it's really important that employers are looking at this because in so many trades, the only way to get qualified is through that apprenticeship pathway. So it's absolutely critical that we're working with and engaging employers to take on board that responsibility of training the next generation of Tasmanians in particularly construction skill sets, as well as encouraging people to do the other side of that equation, which is to take up that interest. 

I think one of the things that I've been struck by for some time is that we've got a bit of an imbalance when it comes to the higher education, the uni pathway, and the VET pathway. One of the things that I'm determined to do is to get that rebalance right so that we value both pathways beyond a school education, whether it's to go to university or to take that apprenticeship or TAFE pathway, because both are needed. We've got skill shortages in both areas. 

BREADEN: Lucy Breaden with you on Drive. This is Andrew Giles, Federal Minister for Skills and Training, talking about apprenticeship numbers. And if you got one back in the day, how did you go getting into it? Was it easy? Was it a bit of a challenge? Or maybe you're noticing that for your child, the child in your life who's not a child anymore. They might be 18, 19, and they want to be an apprentice. Tasmania's housing waitlist is growing. It has been for quite some time, Minister. We have a real need for new builds in Tasmania. Are more apprentices the answer there? 

GILES: Well, they're a big part of the answer. We've got to build that pipeline of skilled workers because it's not going to happen overnight. We can't just flick a switch. I was at a housing development on the outskirts of Launnie yesterday, 49 affordable and social dwellings being built, and I met a lot of apprentices on site, electrical, carpentry, and plumbing, talking about their excitement at either starting a trade or, in a couple of cases, nearly getting their papers and finishing. And this morning, I was in Hobart meeting with a group of school-based students, Year 10 students doing work at the Tasmanian building group training organisation, thinking about developing the skills that will get them into an apprenticeship. I think about Luca, who's really keen to start a carpentry apprenticeship next year. So it's about thinking about what happens in schools. It's about making sure that people understand that building homes is an absolute priority. And we need people with skills to build those homes. 

BREADEN: Do you think we're going to have enough apprentices, enough workers, tradies to build this new stadium? It's due to start in the next year or two. I mean, will there be enough workers for that? 

GILES: Well, that's something I've been talking to people about while I've been down in Tassie because obviously, it's a big and iconic project. We do know that it's a little bit away, and some of the trades won't be needed at the start. So I think there's an opportunity for us to think again about building the pipeline because people can see that there is work out there, and I hope that's something that gets people in families and in their social circles thinking about an opportunity to do something different, to try something new, or to think about a career that really has tangible contribution, which is something that I'm struck by when I speak to tradies all the time, that sense of satisfaction at having contributed to building something. And I hope that concept out there is attracting more to think about it and to think about the importance, the critical importance, of high-quality apprenticeships setting people up for careers of contribution. 

BREADEN: This is the Federal Minister, Andrew Giles, for Skills and Training. We're talking apprenticeships. Do you know someone that got one recently, maybe in the last six months and they managed to get this $10,000 incentive? That is what the Federal Government has put on the table. It's been going for the past six months. How long do people, Andrew Giles, have to be able to sign up to this? 

GILES: Well, it's running at the moment. So I'd encourage people to get in there. We're obviously making sure over time that we've got all of these settings right, but I'd certainly encourage anyone who's interested in taking on an apprenticeship in this area to really think about reaching out to a potential employer, thinking about how they might take advantage of this. 

BREADEN: Andrew Giles, great to have you on. Thanks for your time today. 

GILES: Great to be chatting with you, Lucy. Thanks so much. 

BREADEN: Andrew Giles there, Federal Minister for Skills and Training in the state, enjoying the state, talking to young people on the job, who seem to be really enjoying their apprenticeship.