If an aspiring tradesperson is lucky enough to work their way into an apprenticeship, they’re signed up for four years of unliveable wages and poor conditions in an industry that appears reluctant to grow up. I’ve had contractors boast to me about how they’ve never had an apprentice last more than three months. Rarely does the thought seem to cross their mind that maybe the problem isn’t just young people these days.

It’s easy for an unsuspecting apprentice with few rights to get stuck in a limbo of being shoved around from employer to employer, abused and used as cheap labour, never learning real skills or making progress. No wonder almost half of all Australian apprentices never finish their training. In fact, according to Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn, about 8 per cent of the construction workforce is lost through retirement and other departures from the industry each year.

The federal government is looking to skilled migration to fill the “tradie gap”, a solution that, ironically, puts more pressure on the already stretched housing market. The truth is that many of the skills we need already exist within our borders.

Skilled labourers fill the gap on work sites all over the country, often doing the work of qualified tradespeople and more. They’re often older, experienced workers who’ve slipped off the apprentice track for various reasons, or never entered it because they could not afford to lose the wages to do so.

They are an untapped resource.

Updating recognition of prior learning (RPL) schemes would make it possible to fast-track the addition of qualified craftspeople to the construction workforce. They wouldn’t need to spend time at tertiary institutions going over things they already know, or summiting the mountains of bureaucracy required to recognise a genuine competence. Instead, there would be more qualified hands on site at any given time.

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Employers currently lose their apprentices one day a week to TAFE. Similarly, by making those necessary hours more flexible, bosses would have more time with their employees at work, and apprentices would be able to attend classes at a time that suits them.

Work and education can coexist more effectively, and recognising that the two concepts complement each other is the first step to more skilled workplaces across the country. We can’t afford to sit around waiting for something better to come along. Everything the industry needs is well within reach. It’s time to think about the future.

Joe Visser is a freelance writer, working in the building industry at the moment.