Kenyon Training Debacle

Hon Iain Evans MP

Shadow Treasurer

Kenyon Training Debacle

• Employers face over $3,500 extra cost per year for apprenticeships
• Post trade training not funded
• ‘Doorways2construction’ not funded

The impact of Minister Kenyon’s training debacle through not signing the annual training plan for the Construction Industry Training Board is sending shock waves through the Construction Industry.

The fact that Minister Kenyon has refused to sign the annual training plan for the Construction Industry Training Board means that Board can’t fund training – they can only fund training in the approved training plan – no plan means no training.

Construction Industry representatives have indicated this means:

• The extra cost to employers for a 4 year apprenticeship will be an average extra cost of over $3500 per year
• Post Trade training to up-skill tradespeople after finishing their apprenticeship will not be funded
• The school program ‘doorways2construction’, which introduces around 1000 students to the industry, will not be funded - this is a cut of around $400,000 a year

This is on top of the announcement in the budget that the payroll tax exemption for apprentices and trainees has been scrapped - costing employers an extra $1,400 a year.

The construction industry is in the doldrums with recent figures showing that for the 12 months to May the number of new building approvals dropped by 23.9 per cent- the worst performance of all mainland states.

“Cutting Apprenticeship funding won’t help the industry.

“This is another example of Labor’s mismanagement,” Shadow Treasurer Iain Evans said.