The electrical industry has been spared having to find an extra $5 million a year to pay apprentices after Training and Workforce Development Minister Peter Collier rejected proposed subsidy cuts.
The Construction Training Fund was planning to reduce the amount it paid to employers of electrical apprentices in subsidies from next month. They are currently paid $9,000 for every new apprentice and an additional $3,000 for apprentices aged over 21.
But the fund wanted to reduce that to $6,000 for new apprentices and scrap the adult apprentice subsidy altogether.
The minister has rejected the plan.
“I can confirm that after careful consideration, the cuts proposed … will not be introduced,” he said in a statement.
The proposal was lambasted by industry, in particular the National Electrical and Communications Association, which said it would spark higher construction costs.
WA general manager membership Ray Harris said reducing the subsidies would leave employers having to find an additional $5 million a year to pay apprentices, which would then have been passed on to consumers.
The association had been discussing the matter with the minister since it was announced in April and applauded his response.
“The NECA Board and our 750 members were quietly confident the minister would reach this outcome, given the vast number of young and mature age Western Australians the industry trains every year,” he said.
The training fund gains revenue purely through the 0.2 per cent levy placed on construction projects. The majority of construction in the resources industry is not subject to the levy.
Executive director of the training fund Ralph Dawson told WA Business News the board would meet next week to discuss how it could alter the operational plan to avoid subsidy cuts.
It’s struggling with tight revenue margins and the reduction in subsidy expenditure would have given it some breathing space.
