Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for his question. The construction industry in Australia is fundamental to our economy. It now employs over 1.1 million Australians, and, in terms of the number of small and family businesses within the construction industry itself, there are around 390,000 small businesses. This actually equates to roughly 98.5 per cent of all businesses in the sector. That is why the Morrison government has made supporting our construction industry a priority throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

In terms of what we've done for the construction sector, one of the fundamentals was obviously keeping apprentices and trainees on the job, where we need them. Of course, when you get hit with a pandemic, the apprentices and trainees are often the first to go, the first that an employer has to lay off. So we put in place a number of programs to assist our employers in keeping those apprentices and trainees on the tools, on the job, where we need them. They are, of course, the HomeBuilder program, support for our residential construction pipeline and extending the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. Combined, there were a number of policies—JobKeeper, the cash flow boost, the SME guarantee scheme—all of which have helped minimise the economic impact on this vital sector.

As we emerge from COVID-19, the foundation these policies puts in place is driving our early economic comeback. Over the last quarter of 2020, employment in the construction industry has increased by two per cent, or 22,800 jobs. What we've also seen is more than 85,421 applications to the HomeBuilder scheme. We're seeing that the policies that the Morrison government have put in place throughout the pandemic are assisting the construction industry to employ more people.