The National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) has welcomed a decision by Minister for training and workforce development Peter Collier to reverse the Construction Training Fund’s (CTF) proposed cut to employer subsidies for electrical apprentices.

The CTF proposal would have seen employer subsidies reduced from $9,000 to $6,000 for young apprentices and from $12,000 to $6,000 for mature age apprentices from 1 July 2012.

NECA general manager membership Ray Harris says the proposed cut in funding would have brought about a decrease in electrical apprentice commencements and further exacerbated the skill shortage in Western Australia.

“Minister Collier’s decision was in-line with his reputation as a champion of the apprenticeship system,” Ray says.

“The Minister has been calling on industry to increase its apprenticeship training effort because of the short supply of skilled tradesmen.

“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 electrical industry trains every year,” Ray says.

“We support the Minister’s call for increased apprenticeship training so we are pleased he has recognised this and supported the electrical industry.

“If the CTF training subsidy cuts had gone ahead it would have cost our industry $5million in employer subsidies over the training period for apprentices commencing in 2012/2013 and the same amount for starters each year thereafter,” Ray says.

“This cost would have been passed on to users of electrical services so the Minister’s decision is also a big win for consumers.

“As the peak industry body representing the interests of electrical contractors, NECA has been in discussion with Minister Collier about this issue for some months and we are very pleased he has given a positive response to our call.”