Western Australia has extended a program for bringing more tradies into the state in an attempt to help fill the industry gap.
Concerns had been raised that there were not enough tradespeople to help fill the building projects backlog, let alone new projects.
The Western Australia Government said the Construction Visa Subsidy Program (CVSP) would be extended after 1100 allocated places for skilled migrants were snapped up by employers in 12 months.
The program is designed to help building and construction businesses engage skilled migrant workers, filling positions that are unable to be filled locally to help speed up delivery of homes across WA.
WA Premier Roger Cook said WA’s strong economy and enviable lifestyle were driving significant demand for housing.
“My Government is doing everything we can to boost our construction workforce, so we can get more homes built for Western Australians,” he said.
“We’re committed to continuing to create quality local jobs for local people, but acknowledge we need to attract skilled workers to grow our residential construction workforce.”
“It’s great that our Construction Visa Subsidy Program has received such strong support from industry and is already resulting in more tradies on the ground.”
CVSP Program
Under the program, businesses can access payments of up to $10,000 to offset costs such as migration agent fees, visa application fees and relocation expenses.
Training and Workforce Development Minister, Simone McGurk, said the Construction Visa Subsidy Program is helping to get more boots on the ground in WA.
“There has been a surge in demand from employers following the establishment of the Construction Migration Office and the launch of our marketing campaign,” she said.
“We’ve now hit our target, with all 1,100 places being snapped up. Hundreds of those workers are now working on building sites, with many more progressing through the immigration system.”
Since the CVSP was announced as part of the 2023-24 State Budget, it has supported Western Australian employers – most of which are small and medium businesses – to navigate the complexities of Australia’s visa system to engage skilled migrants as part of their workforce.
In addition to the subsidies, the State Government’s Construction Migration Office also provides each business that applies for the CVSP with end-to-end support throughout the process.
The majority of skilled migrants under the CVSP to date have been from the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Ireland and Italy.