A peak construction body is bemused by yoga instructors and dog handlers landing spots on a draft list of priority migrant skills amid a housing crisis.
Trades including plumbers and bricklayers remain under consideration, as the Albanese government struggles to meet its target of building 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade due to a skills shortfall.
But wellness professionals have been included on Jobs and Skills Australia’s “confident on list” for a skills migration stream.
Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said she was “flummoxed” by the proposal.
“We cannot build homes with wellness instructors,” she told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“We need tradies and they must be on the definite list for skilled migration.”
Australia had a problem that had been decades in the making in its attitudes to trades, Ms Wawn said.
“We have focused on tertiary education at the expense of vocational education and training,” she said.
“People going through a trade are treated as second-class citizens in this country. Enough is enough.”
Australia was competing with other countries including the UK and Canada to attract skilled migrants, said Ms Wawn, and was disadvantaged without a fast-tracked system.
The federal budget in May allocated $1.8 million to streamline and fast-track skills assessments for about 1900 potential migrants with qualifications in construction and housing, and for the processing of evaluations for new arrivals in targeted occupations.