HIA’s new report, Australia’s Future is Built by Tradies, outlines an action plan for industry and government to tackling Australia’s trades shortage. The residential building industry is already around 83,000 skilled workers short. 

HIA North Queensland Regional Executive Director Peter Fry said the report highlights the greater workforce challenges facing regional Australia because of smaller labour pools, limited access to training, and difficulties attracting and retaining workers. 

“In North Queensland, these pressures are compounded by disaster recovery demands and the need to support growing communities across a vast regional footprint,” Mr Fry said.

“The findings reflect what local builders and trade businesses experience every day across Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton and regional communities throughout the North.

"North Queensland builders are telling us they simply cannot find enough skilled workers to meet current demand, let alone deliver the additional housing our growing communities need. These shortages are extending construction timeframes, increasing costs and limiting the industry's ability to build more homes for local families," Mr Fry said. 

North Queensland is at the centre of some of Australia’s most significant infrastructure investment, including CopperString, Bruce Highway upgrades, defence and health expansions, and major resources developments. 

“These projects are critical to the region’s future, but they are drawing electricians, carpenters, plumbers, concreters and other skilled trades from the same limited workforce as residential builders.

“Unless the overall workforce grows, labour shortages will continue to constrain housing supply and affordability while also affecting the delivery of critical infrastructure across the region.”

The HIA report calls for governments to elevate trade careers, improve apprenticeship attraction and completion, better support the small businesses that employ apprentices, strengthen school-to-trade pathways and expand workforce capacity.

It also calls for greater regional training opportunities, strategic skilled migration support for regional communities where shortages cannot be filled locally and improved recognition of overseas trade qualifications.

State and national programs are helping to increase apprenticeship commencements and completions. However, with the 2032 Olympic Games construction pipeline approaching, governments must provide targeted incentives and training support for regional employers and apprentices so North Queensland can attract, train and retain young people and skilled tradespeople rather than lose them to Olympic projects in Brisbane.

“We also need to change the way we talk to young Australians about careers. We need to start in schools, showcasing the opportunities available through apprenticeships and demonstrating that a trade career can lead to secure, rewarding work and business ownership,” Mr Fry said.

“University will remain the right choice for many, but an apprenticeship shouldn’t be treated as the second choice.

“Tradies can earn while they learn, develop skills that will remain in demand and have a genuine pathway to running their own business.

“And in an economy being reshaped by AI, those practical skills are only becoming more valuable.

“Technology can help design a home, prepare an estimate or manage a project. It still can’t turn up on site and build the house.

Our region has ambitious plans for housing, infrastructure and economic growth. Those plans all depend on people with the skills to deliver them.

"If we are serious about improving housing affordability, increasing housing supply and building more resilient communities, we must invest in the people who build them” said Mr Fry.

“If we want to build more, we need to train more.”

Australia's future is built by tradies, and North Queensland's future depends on ensuring we have enough skilled workers to build the homes, infrastructure and resilient communities our growing region needs.

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