The NT Government is looking to the Philippines and India to supply 600 skilled overseas workers for the Territory’s lagging construction sector “in the coming months”, which will see taxpayers pay another $200,000 for local construction companies to fly to those countries this week to attract workers.

The government has not explained how the 600 new workers will get into the country under visas, but said it was part of a new Masters Builders NT plan to grow the NT construction sector by 5000 workers.

Data for the Department of Treasury and Finance show that the Territory’s construction sector average year-on-year value fell to $2.8 billion for 2021-22, from almost $11 billion average in 2015-2016.

While the sector registered an increase of 7.1 per cent to $711 million for the June quarter of this year – due to a rise in engineering and building work – it remained almost flat in 2020-2021, growing by a slim 0.4 per cent to $1.5 billion, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show.

For 2021-2022, employment in the sector fell by 9.9 per cent to 9,300 persons employed.

However, the government will provide $200,000 to Master Builders and a consortium of unnamed local construction companies to lead three expos in the Philippines and India this week.

Master Builders NT, the Minerals Council of Australia, and the Chamber of Commerce will join the delegation to encourage skilled workers to sign up and work in the Territory’s domestic and commercial sectors, and other government pipeline projects.

The money for the worker recruitment trip is part of the Flexible Workforce Solutions program which is an initiative of the NT Government’s $12.8 million workforce boost package, with endowments of up to $200,000 offered on a 25:75 co-contribution basis for projects and activities to attract workers to the NT.

The government last week announced that Hospitality NT would also be given $200,000 through the fund to attract UK bar staff to come to the NT for work while on holiday visas.

The government said it will work with the Master Builders’ “Born to Build” program, which aims to “scale up of pathways for construction workers to become trainers for other construction workers”; “make more short courses available to upskill the sector for future growth”; “work together to attract skilled overseas workers, and promoting trades as an attractive career path for school students and school leavers”.

“Born to Build is about industry and government working together to find and deliver immediate and long-term solutions to the severe people shortage that is hammering our industry and the Territory economy,” Master Builders NT CEO Ben Carter said.

Business, Jobs, and Training Minister Paul Kirby said the latest $200,000 grant is to help find skilled workers to drive the industry forward in the “short term” while also ensuring “young Territorians enter trades and we have the workforce to drive growth”.

The government, however, did not say how it will bring the workers into the Territory, or what working arrangements will be offered to the recruited employees.