Hundreds of tradies will be trained in a bid to tackle the South Australian housing crisis, building on a billion-dollar election pledge to boost home construction and supply.
A $29 million scheme to create 1000 new traineeships in the construction workforce has been promised by Premier Peter Malinauskas in the lead-up to the state poll on March 21.
"We are not going to achieve more housing supply by doing more of the same," he told reporters on Monday, off the back of a major announcement to release more land.
"We've got to continue to keep our foot on the accelerator, which is why we're cutting taxes, which is why we're releasing land, which is why we're investing in skills."
The $29 million pledge includes $18.2 million for 750 construction apprenticeships.
A further $5 million will be allocated for 250 additional apprenticeships through key government agencies that build public housing and infrastructure projects.
Master Builders SA said the state would need an extra 18,000 building industry workers in 2027 to keep up with construction demand.
"Without enough skilled workers building homes, takes longer, it's more expensive, and quality can suffer as well," chief executive Will Frogley said.
But training and skills spokesman Dennis Hood said Labor's plan would take too long.
"Labor's plan will take years to bring workforce online to build the homes we need right now," he said.
"We have a clear plan to fast-track apprentices and support employers to take on more trainees, to get more people on the tools, faster."
Housing Industry Association SA said Labor's policies would result in more homes being built and help stabilise prices, but there was a lot of work to be done to catch up with demand.
"Satisfying construction workforce requirements over the next few years is going to be our biggest challenge, with competition for workers coming from defence, mining and infrastructure projects," executive director Stephen Knight said.
The Malinauskas government previously set a target to build 13,500 new homes each year.
Victoria led the nation in building homes in the nine months to September last year, with 42,888 new starts.
NSW started 36,104 dwellings in the same period, Queensland 29,370 and Western Australia 17,439, according to the HIA.
