Page 6 - Climate Control News May 2022

News
Industry responds to call for shorter apprenticeships
LEFT: Technicians are still learning long after completing their apprenticeship.
“Is there an opportunity to embrace what BHP is about and fully step towards a competency model that can collapse and condense as re- quired?”
Robert said the good news is that completion rates for apprenticeships are at an all time high.
However, Australia needs 86,000 completing apprentices each year.
“We need to start turning the dial away from commencements, to completions which is vital,” Robert said.
The Minister’s proposal received plenty of at- tention on CCN’s web site and social media feeds. Most comments were opposed to reducing the
length of an apprenticeship.
Respondents said technicians are still learn-
ing long after finishing their apprenticeships and that experience on the job was the real teacher.
Former Holmesglen TAFE teacher, Alan Bal- lard, said there are too many topics to cover in two years.
“Apprentices cover everything from thermo- dynamics and refrigeration to controls and fluid mechanics that is a lot of technology for anyone; this could just be a back door to reducing costs,” he said.
AJ Baker & Sons managing director, Mike Bak- er, said this is a move that sets the apprentice up for failure. “There is too much to cover in two years, this is insane,” he said.
Many respondents claimed that the industry has moved away from preventative maintenance and is already doing the absolute minimum, a two year apprenticeship will only contribute to this decline in standards.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS PROPOSED REDUCING THE LENGTH OF APPRENTICESHIPS FROM FOUR YEARS TO TWO.
LEFT: Federal Skills Minister, Stuart Robert.
SPEAKING AT THE National Apprentice Em- ployment Network’s national conference in Ho- bart, the Minister for Employment & Workforce Skills, Stuart Robert, said it is already being done at the BHP training academy in North Queensland.
He said many of the apprenticeships at BHP are completed in two years.
“These apprentices are fully signed off after two years and that is no mean feat by any stretch of the imagination,” Robert said.
“Is there an opportunity for us collectively, with the support of government, to lead the way on the next and perhaps final step of apprentice- ships to break away from our current model?
Uncertainty the only certainty for 2022
ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY IS the only certainty for Australia’s HVACR contractors in 2022.
The collapse of Probuild and more recently New Sensation Homes and Home Innovation Builders in Western Australia has led to a cho- rus of warnings that more companies could go into liquidation.
The crisis has been blamed on soaring mate- rial costs, labour shortages and other COVID- related impacts.
Although demand for residential property re- mains high, it is still a challenging period for developers in Australia, according to Pete War- gent, co-founder of Australia’s first national marketplace for buyer’s agents, BuyersBuyers.
administration, while Condev and Privium have also stumbled into liquidation, leaving many live projects unfinished and contractors out of work,” he said.
Wargent said construction costs have con- tinued to increase in 2022, so there is little res- pite in sight for a beleaguered sector, especially with the Reserve Bank telegraphing an increase in the cost of financing.
“There is still a large pipeline of residential construction to be worked through,” he said.
“Thanks to government stimulus packages there were still more than 100,000 detached homes under construction all around the coun- try at the end of 2021, so there is still a huge pipe- line of residential work due to be completed.”
BuyersBuyers CEO Doron Peleg said further
insolvencies will inevitably follow later in 2022.
“We expect to see con- struction insolvencies mak- ing up for lost ground and rising significantly over the year ahead,” she said.
Ai Group CEO, Innes Willox.
“Recently, we have seen Probuild head into
The CEO of industry body, the Ai Group, Innes Willox, said the next term of federal par- liament is crunch time for Australia.
"Our long-term prosperity hinges on us not wasting the next three years; there is a high risk that the next three years will see a deterioration in our overall economic circumstances,” he said.
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
It is a tough climate for Australians heading into a federal election on 21 May, 2022.
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