From 1 July, NSW will recognise a range of interstate building and construction qualifications and registrations, with certain tradespeople no longer needing to apply for a NSW licence, or pay additional registration or renewal fees.
The move will hopefully encourage more tradespeople into the state to help with the massive flood clean-up and rebuilding projects in the Northern Rivers area of NSW.
The changes follow extensive public consultation and form part of a national move to make it easier for tradespeople to work across borders under the Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) Scheme. Minister for Energy and Environment, Matt Kean, said it’s expected these changes will allow a more timely response to any future natural disasters.
The scheme will deliver an estimated $2.4 billion increase in economic activity over 10 years from savings to workers and businesses, productivity gains, and quicker responses to future natural disasters.
Minister for Small Business and Minister for Fair Trading, Eleni Petinos, said the NSW government had worked closely with industry to ensure proper protections for tradies and their customers are in place.
“Industry stakeholders were engaged to ensure that participating interstate tradies meet the necessary qualification standards,” Ms Petinos said. “We’ve erred on the side of caution when deciding which licenses would be included to maintain the highest standards for consumers in NSW.
“Recognising interstate registration reduces administration costs faced by tradespeople – many of whom are small business owners – who want to grow their businesses and move to where the work is.
“This will boost competition, which can deliver lower prices, greater choice, and improved service quality for consumers.”
NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and the ACT are participating in the Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme. Western Australia will join the scheme on 1 July 2022.
