The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) says that Australia is facing a major training crisis following a survey of electrical apprentices that revealed the cost of living and failing mentorship system is pushing people to the brink of quitting.

Electrical apprentice completion rates currently sit at just 52% – a figure that is far too low if Australia is to meet its international carbon emissions reduction commitments.

The research exposes deep problems with Australian Apprenticeship Support Networks (AASNs), which spent nearly $330 million of taxpayers’ money in the 2020/21 financial year.

Over the next four years, AASNs are slated to cost the budget almost $920 million.

The survey of 642 electrical apprentices, conducted by Essential Media for the ETU, showed more than 37% considered quitting their apprenticeship. The top reason apprentices gave for thinking about termination was wages (17%) ahead of work culture (16%) and cost of living (14%).

Low apprentice wages are having a major impact with one-third reporting their pay was not adequate to cover bare necessities such as food, travel and housing.

Most apprentices spend between $50 and $99 on petrol each week, with 34% travelling more than 200km to and from work.

AASNs have the responsibility of providing apprentices with mentoring and support. Despite this, just 11% of apprentices surveyed said they received mentoring from their AASN provider. Half received no support whatsoever.

Two-thirds of respondents were unsure who their AASN provider was. More than 88% of apprentices had not discussed electives with their AASN provider despite electives being integral in renewables training.

ETU acting national secretary Michael Wright says the survey laid bare deep problems with apprenticeships: “These damning results paint a devastating picture of a broken system.

“With apprentices considering quitting in droves, urgent action is needed to arrest a looming skills crisis that could have shocking consequences for generations.

“The crisis is made worse by the abject failure of the Apprenticeship Support Network system. Mentoring is key to keeping apprentices in training, but taxpayers are down to spend more than $1.25 billion over five years for something that is simply not doing its job.”