Victoria’s regions will play a key role in the state government’s plans to turbocharge housing stocks, but the industry is warning of a shortage of critical workers. Builders say Melbourne’s big projects are sucking the skills out of regional Victoria at a time when Spring Street is crafting housing targets for every corner of the state.
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00:00The signs of growth are obvious on Ballarat's western fringe, and it's an omen of things
00:08to come.
00:09The government announced they want another 47,000 new homes in Ballarat.
00:14That would effectively double the current number of homes in the city by the 2051 deadline.
00:19It sounds like a developer's dream, but to meet that target, the town's builders would
00:24have to build 1,800 new homes annually for the next 27 years.
00:29That would be unprecedented.
00:30Based on the numbers, it's a real stretch.
00:34There's no hiding behind that.
00:36The developers' doubts that they can meet these draft targets stem from their concerns
00:40about finding enough workers.
00:42Many regionally based tradies, engineers and surveyors head to the city to work on Victoria's
00:47big build projects, like the Westgate Tunnel and suburban rail loop.
00:51Someone making $1,200 a week, where in comparative terms they might be getting $2,500, $2,600
00:58in a project on one of the big build projects in Melbourne.
01:01Ballarat's Master Builders Association wants government incentives to entice skilled workers
01:05to leave Melbourne.
01:07Investing in new trade facilities at TAFEs across regional Victoria is an important part
01:12of giving young regional Victorians a pathway into the trades and also to the overhaul of
01:18VCE.
01:19But it's not just tradies.
01:21The Committee for Ballarat says regional cities could take population pressure off Melbourne
01:26if the political will is there to make it happen.
01:28We have two railway stations now for a population of about 120,000 people.
01:33It's simply not enough as it is at the moment.
01:35So if we talk about a city of let's say 300,000 people, so double the size we are now, you're
01:40talking at least four.
01:42It remains to be seen whether Victoria can turn its growing pains into statewide gains.