Tasmania’s building industry is pushing for a $1.7 million government-funded learning hub at the Macquarie Point stadium site to attract the next generation of construction workers.
Master Builders Tasmania and its Hi-Viz Army partners have pitched the idea to Skills and Workforce Minister Felix Ellis, asking for a temporary education centre where students from years 9 to 12 could visit the stadium build and learn about careers in construction.
The proposal is a collaboration between CCF Tasmania, Master Builders Tasmania, HIA, Master Plumbers Tasmania, NECA and Keystone Tasmania.
Jenna Cairney, CEO of Master Builders Tasmania, said the industry is around 11,000 workers short of what is needed to deliver a $40 billion infrastructure pipeline over the next decade.
“The Macquarie Point stadium will inspire the next generation of building and construction workforce,” she said.
“It’s not just about the tradies or the apprentices, it’s everyone from the engineers, the architects, right through to the economists that make the case for these sorts of things to happen.”
CCF Tasmania CEO Andrew Winch said the hub would give students hands-on experience, including the chance to make pavers for the stadium site.
“We’re hoping that at the hub the students themselves will make some of the pavers needed, so Tasmanian kids can walk onsite for the rest of their lives and stand on something they helped build,” he said.
“That is the sort of thing that stays with a young person and it is the sort of thing that brings them back to the industry.”
The facility is designed to be demountable, meaning it could move to future projects like Marinus Link or wind farms once the stadium is complete.
The stadium build will require more than 600 workers over its course, with a peak on-site workforce of around 450.
Cairney said attracting women was “not a nice-to-have” but “an absolute essential workforce strategy,” and called for targeted migration alongside school leavers to help fill the gap.
Ellis said the proposal “looks like a great spend” but stopped short of committing funding outright.
“The best legacy from any major project is not just what we build, but who we inspire to build next,” he said.
