She said overturning Commonwealth cuts to the state’s allocation of skilled migrants was key,and the state had repeated calls for Canberra to urgently top up Western Australia’s capacity to recruit foreign workers.
“This is acting as a handbrake on the economy and sends the wrong message at a time when we need skilled workers in industries like construction,” McGurk said.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles said during the launch of the state’s housing policy in February he had asked the federal government to consider fast-tracking visas for construction workers.
“The fact is,we’ve seen a massive surge in migration nationally,and all of those people need homes as well as all the other infrastructure that we’re building. It makes sense to prioritise those who can help us build those homes,” he said.
“And so that’s what we’ve asked of the Australian government. Of course,there might be other things that we can do,but we think that’s an early initiative that could help.”
A spokesperson for O’Neil said:“After a decade of mismanagement by the former coalition government left us with a broken migration system,we’re working with all states and territories to build a new system that delivers for all Australians and meets the needs of our economy,now and into the future.”
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This masthead revealed last month that BuildSkills,the body charged by the government with solving Australia’s construction workforce woes,estimated the country would have to find 90,000 more tradespeople by July to begin completing enough homes to meet the housing accord’s target of 1.2 million dwellings by 2029.
The NSW housing minister said the housing crisis would take a “monumental effort to turn around”.
“Even if we can get the housing planning approvals,which will be challenging,and then get the projects financed,another difficult task,finding the people to actually build them is not straightforward either.”
Jackson said while the state was investing in TAFE,as well as targeting women and young people in the regions,“it’s still a big task”.
“We’ve always been honest about having ambition and drive to reach our housing targets,but also need to be honest with the community about how difficult it’s going to be,” she said.
Master Builders chief executive Denita Wawn said last month the domestic workforce couldn’t keep up with demand in the short term. “Skilled migration represents a vital piece of the workforce puzzle,” she said,adding many skilled migrants were already in Australia,waiting on recognition of their existing qualifications.
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