BCITO Board Chairman Peter Robson; Carters South Island Regional Manager Ian Osborne; Canterbury Registered Master Builders Association President and Registered Master Builders Federation Board member Anthony Leighs; Judges –
Ian Alexander from BCITO, Clive Barrington from Registered Master Builders Association and Mike Salkeld from Carters; Other distinguished guests; Ladies and gentlemen.

I am delighted to be here once again this year to present the award to the Central South Island regional winner of this year’s Registered Master Builders Apprentice of the Year competition.

It’s good to see last year’s regional winner Matthew Martin here – I’m sure you still look back with great pride on your achievement Matthew.

My congratulations to all nine apprentices who entered the competition in this region.

You represent a very widespread region, from Ashburton to Kaikoura, and over to the West Coast. In fact the competition welcomed its first entrant from the West Coast this year.

I’m particularly pleased to note that your regional competition this year also has the first female Apprentice of the Year entrant anywhere in the country, and not only that, but she’s from Swannanoa, in my Electorate of Waimakariri – Rebecca Bayley.

The nine of you showed sufficient confidence in yourselves and in your training to put yourselves forward to be judged on it. Well done.

I also applaud your employers for providing the opportunity for you to undertake your apprenticeship.

There is a cost to taking on apprentices, a cost that employers like many represented here have accepted as part of your commitment to the future of the building and construction industry.

This year the Apprentice of the Year competition received a record 134 entries nationwide.

It has grown each year since it began as a Wellington-based event in 2004.

I’m pleased that my department, the Department of Building and Housing, is a sponsor this year.

That sponsorship reflects our commitment to training – in the building and construction sector and in all other sectors of the workforce – because a well-qualified, well-trained workforce is a cornerstone of the economy.

The building and construction sector plays a significant role in our economy.

It employs nearly 190,000 people, close to 10 percent of the workforce – and contributes 5 percent to New Zealand’s gross domestic product.

This Government is committed to strengthening the sector to ensure that it performs well and that the public has confidence in it.

The Building Act 2004 is the primary mechanism for achieving that, and 2007 is a watershed year in Building Act reforms, with three key initiatives taking place:

•In November the Department will make recommendations to me on its top-to-bottom review of the Building Code, with a view to changes taking effect next year.

•Territorial authorities around the country are being assessed for accreditation as building consent authorities, to improve building control systems.

•From next month building practitioners will be able to apply to become licensed – initially in the Design, Site and Carpentry licence classes, with assessment for licensing beginning in November.

We are also doing various other things to strengthen the sector, such as developing a product certification scheme, investigating a home warranty scheme, streamlining processes for resolving weathertight homes cases and introducing measures to improve the energy efficiency of our homes and buildings.

Our overarching aim is to ensure that buildings are built right first time, because that is better – as we found at great cost from leaky homes – than picking up the pieces.

The changes we are making in the sector, together, are profound and they are bold.

The results will be substantial and lasting.

But whatever we do to provide frameworks and systems for the sector, we need a well-trained construction workforce, a skilled, competent and professional workforce that has the confidence of consumers.

That’s where organisations like the Registered Master Builders Federation and Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation come in, because you are committed to excellence and to ensuring quality standards through formal training.

You have championed training in recent years, to the point where there are more than 4500 employers and more than 9600 trainees involved in industry training with the BCITO.

88 percent of those apprentices are carpentry apprentices.

The training you are administering fits well with the licensed building practitioners scheme.

It is bringing competent people into the industry at ground level – the people who will help the development of a workforce that will future-proof the building and construction sector.

We have nine of those people here tonight.

Once again, congratulations on your entry into this competition and I wish each of you the very best as you work to complete your apprenticeship and in your careers in this very important industry.