Already a subscriber?Businesses and industry groups across Queensland have hit out at the federal government’s plan to slash the state’s access to skilled international visas.
But CLS will now continue to grapple a workforce shortage, along with a number of critical sectors across Queensland, after this week’s revelations that Queensland will be shortchanged in the latest carve-up of the country’s skilled international workers. It is understood that Queensland had requested an increase in overseas construction workers to assist with a target of building one million new homes by 2046.Master Builders Queensland chief executive Paul Bidwell said Queensland was desperate to attract more skilled workers to increase productivity to “dampen cost pressures”.
Master Builders said the international workforce has traditionally made up about a quarter of the sector in Queensland but new arrivals to the industry from overseas have plummeted to less than 3 per cent in the last five years.“We need to be doubling that,” Mr Bidwell said. “It’s certainly quicker than the long-term approach of growing our own skills, which the industry and government at state and federal level are contributing to.