Among its various requirements, the Andrews Government’s Victorian Local Jobs First Bill mandates ‘minimum local content on major projects, including a 90 per cent minimum on construction projects’.

Master Builders Victoria CEO Radley de Silva responded by pointing out that the bill’s laudable intent of favouring local workers was at odds with the numbers of them available for projects that fall within the mandate.

“The bill has an admirable goal of employing local skills as a priority, but it fails to recognise that Victoria doesn’t have a skilled workforce large enough to meet the Bill’s requirement of 90% on construction projects,” Mr de Silva said.

“It makes no sense to mandate a greater reliance on local workers if there aren’t enough of them to do the work,” he said.

“We need to get more Victorians into construction careers with government support for industry RTOs, which provide training in the skills most in demand, and by highlighting the huge need for skilled workers in building and construction.”