Release: TV tradie Paid $345,000 By Govt. To State The Obvious

Release: TV tradie Paid $345,000 By Govt. To State The Obvious

“Scott Cam, a tradie turned TV presenter, has been handed a gold-plated shovel in the form of a 15 month job as an ambassador for trades careers paying $345,000, or over $5,500 a week."

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, the nation’s largest advocacy group representing taxpayers, today question the government’s decision to spend taxpayer dollars to tell kids what they already know - tradies make good money.

“His role as ambassador is supposedly to show young people that careers in a trade can be highly profitable, which might explain why the government is paying him more than triple the average full time wage,” ATA spokesman, Eliot Metherell.

“Nobody needs to be told that tradies make good money - it’s been reported in news outlets across the country for years, and if any kid has managed to escape hearing their parents complain about how much a plumber or electrician costs then they probably just aren’t listening.

“If the government wants to direct people away from universities and into trades then they don’t need an overpaid ambassador.”

“People do not choose university over a trade because they think tradies are poorly paid. They choose university because universities seem like an easier way into a good job. They aren’t, but paying a former tradie $345,000 to spruik trades careers isn’t going to change what people think of universities.”