National Licensing For Electrical Trades
The Albanese Government will work with states, territories, businesses and unions to design a national licensing scheme for electrical trades people.
We’re cutting red tape to save tradies time and money.
This reform is good for workers, good for businesses and will make our economy more productive and competitive.
It will help housing affordability by easing workforce shortages that are holding back construction of more homes.
The 2025-26 Budget will enable the design and implementation of the national licensing scheme through the National Competition Policy (NCP) framework.
The Government has committed $900 million to the National Productivity Fund to drive NCP reforms.
National licensing will enable people in electrical trades to work seamlessly across state and territory borders without reapplying for a separate licence or paying additional fees.
By removing unnecessary barriers, this scheme will encourage highly skilled electrical workers to go where they are needed most in the industry, like in housing construction and clean energy.
As this scheme relates to high‑risk occupations, it will address the need for high standards, while cutting red tape, delays and multiple fees for trades people.
Of all the construction trades, more workers are employed in electrical services than any other, accounting for around one in seven workers in construction.
Productivity Commission modelling shows that reforming occupational licensing across a range of industries could provide significant benefits, including a boost to economic output of up to $10.3 billion.
The Albanese Government has a big and broad economic agenda aimed at boosting productivity because we recognise this is the key to growing our economy and further lifting living standards.
The Liberals oversaw the slowest decade of productivity growth in 60 years and we’re working hard to turn that around.
The Liberals abandoned a national license scheme agreed with states and territories at their first Council of Australian Governments meeting under then Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2013.
National licensing will complement reforms previously agreed under NCP, including the development of a national screening check for workers in the care sector, streamlining commercial zoning and planning, and removing barriers that inhibit the take‑up of modern construction methods.
The Albanese Government’s five pillar productivity agenda is focused on creating a more dynamic economy, building a skilled workforce, harnessing data and digital, investing in net zero and delivering quality care more efficiently.
We’ll make our economy more productive by investing in the jobs and industries of the future and by backing our people, not by making Australians work longer for less.
Our fourth budget is all about helping with the cost of living, paying down Liberal debt and building a stronger economy.
We’ll continue to do what we can to make our economy more productive and competitive and ease the burden on tradies and small businesses.
https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/national-licensing-electrical-trades