It’s taken 100 years but sparkies may soon be able to work everywhere

ETU national secretary Michael Wright said significant productivity gains for the economy could result if electricians and other professions could work across the country with a single licence.

At its national conference in 1921, the Electrical Trades Association passed a resolution calling on the federal government to establish a national licensing system for all electricians.

A high-quality national license will allow electricians to seamlessly cross state lines to perform necessary work, Wright said.

He said that while there appeared to be broad political support for a single license, there were fears that state bureaucracies could relegate the issue to the back burner.

“There is a risk of slowly dying,” he said.

“We’re not trying to change anyone’s mind, but we want to push this to the top of their emails to make it a priority.

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“This is a common-sense change that will increase productivity, maintain quality, protect safety and begin to unlock projected $10 billion in gains for the country. It’s nearly a century overdue.”

Starting with licenses for engineers in the country, a single license for electricians is expected to be used as a template for other sectors as well.

Demand for both professions is growing, and figures released Thursday show a huge increase in jobs in data centres.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said working capital expenditure on information media and technology equipment rose by 91.5 per cent to $2.8 billion in the three months to September.

The industry is dominated by the proliferation of data centres. Last year, capital expenditures increased by 147 percent; the sector is now the third largest in terms of investment, eclipsing manufacturing for the first time, trailing only mining and transportation.

The big increase in spending helped lift total capital expenditures to almost $49 billion, the strongest quarterly result in a decade. It is expected to help lift the September quarter GDP result, which will be published next week.

Chalmers said the stronger-than-expected increase in business investment was a positive sign for the economy.

“These figures show that not only is investment in priority areas such as data centers and cleaner and cheaper energy increasing, but it is also growing faster than expected,” he said.

“This investment will help make our economy stronger, more resilient and more productive over time.”

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