Redynamics Pty Ltd engineering director, Ben Adamson, has issued a call to action to the HVACR industry in response to the Productivity Commission’s national licensing review.
The review is part of a wide range of reforms proposed by the Commission which also covers standards and training.
Adamson said the HVACR industry needs to act with a sense of urgency to ensure the review isn’t a missed opportunity.
"We need industry to deluge the Productivity Commission with submissions,“ he said.
The reforms also include education and training to strengthen and upskill Australia's workforce.
These are critical issues for the HVACR industry and the deadline for submissions is June 6, 2025, which is only weeks away.
The Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC) has confirmed it will be making a submission supporting harmonisation.
ARC CEO, Glenn Evans, said national licensing is already in place with the ARCTick licence scheme which is competency based and applies nationally.
“It is the national standard,” he said.
However, Evans said there are some state occupational schemes which would benefit from alignment with the ARCTick scheme to harmonise and reduce complexity and confusion.
“The harmonisation of electrical licenses is supported and should extend to restricted electrical licences as requirements currently differ from state to state,” Evans said.
In April the federal government announced its plans for a national licensing scheme for the electrical trade through the National Competition Policy (NCP) framework.
The government has committed $900 million to the National Productivity Fund to drive NCP reforms.
As the Productivity Commission notes in its consultation paper, jurisdictions across Australia have different licensing frameworks for trades such as HVACR technicians, electricians, and plumbers.
The Productivity Commission is also seeking input on how international standards could be better adopted in Australia.
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.
Business Council CEO, Bran Black said the reforms will help address Australia’s skills shortage.
"Boosting productivity needs to be a national priority, and these measures to further streamline licensing for electricians will assist in this regard by affording tradies the freedom to pursue job opportunities right around the country," Black said.
He said Australia will need an additional 30,000 electricians by 2030 for clean energy projects.
This is not the first time occupational licensing has been on the agenda with plans to introduce a similar scheme canned in 2014.