CSQ-Funded Courses

CSQ-Funded Building & Construction – Greater Brisbane

CSQ-Funded Civil Construction – Greater Brisbane

CSQ-Funded Qualifications – Greater Brisbane

*CSQ funding applies only where the participant is assessed as competent. Courses that are not completed, or where competency is not achieved, are not funded. Recognition of prior learning is not funded for short courses.

CSQ-Funded Building & Construction – Toowoomba

CSQ-Funded Civil Construction – Toowoomba

CSQ-Funded Qualifications – Toowoomba

*CSQ funding applies only where the participant is assessed as competent. Courses that are not completed, or where competency is not achieved, are not funded. Recognition of prior learning is not funded for short courses.

CSQ-Funded Building & Construction – Chinchilla

CSQ-Funded Civil Construction – Chinchilla

CSQ-Funded Qualifications – Chinchilla

*CSQ funding applies only where the participant is assessed as competent. Courses that are not completed, or where competency is not achieved, are not funded. Recognition of prior learning is not funded for short courses.

CSQ-Funded Building & Construction – Gladstone

CSQ-Funded Civil Construction – Gladstone

CSQ-Funded Qualifications – Gladstone

*CSQ funding applies only where the participant is assessed as competent. Courses that are not completed, or where competency is not achieved, are not funded. Recognition of prior learning is not funded for short courses.

Participants must:

• have the right to work in Australia; and
• be an existing eligible worker, or
• be an unemployed eligible worker in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry, unemployed for no more than six months; and
• meet all program eligibility requirements as per the relevant program schedule.

An existing eligible worker is someone who is a current employee or self-employed worker, who can demonstrate primary and substantial direct involvement in the:

• Queensland Building and Construction Industry doing:
  • construction, significant renovations and extensions of, residential and commercial buildings
  • installation services for interiors of residential and commercial buildings in associated trades; electrical, plumbing, flooring etc.
  • works on a major infrastructure project; or
• the Queensland Civil Construction industry doing:
  • land development and site preparation for the purpose of construction
  • works for civil infrastructure
  • works on a major infrastructure project

If you are currently out of work, you can still be an eligible worker provided you have been unemployed for no more than six months and your previous role would have met the requirements above. Your employer letter or statutory declaration needs to state how long you have been out of work.

Primary and substantial direct involvement refers to a participant’s active and ongoing participation in hands-on construction work.

This means their main job tasks directly contribute to building or civil construction activities — not just support, admin, or coordination roles. They must be personally performing construction related work as a core part of their role, regularly and meaningfully, not occasionally or indirectly.

A participant who is wanting to enrol and complete a building and construction related unit or qualification is not automatically eligible for funding.

To be eligible, a participant must:

• have the right to work in Australia; and
• be an existing eligible worker, or
• be an unemployed eligible worker in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry, unemployed for no more than six months; and
• meet all program eligibility requirements as per the relevant program schedule.

For an RTO to assess a participant’s eligibility, all documentation must be provided before training starts.

The Higher Qualifications program funds nationally recognised qualifications for people working in the Queensland building and construction industry, and for eligible workers who have been out of work for no more than six months. It is designed to support career progression, professional development and long-term industry capability, and it targets participants who meet all the participant and program eligibility requirements.

Through Harness you can access Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety and Certificate IV in Leadership and Management.

CSQ funds qualifications that line up with identified workforce priorities and skills shortages in the Queensland building and construction industry. The funded list is chosen to support current and future industry needs and to improve workforce capability, compliance and productivity.

The list is reviewed periodically and can change between program terms.

A visa holder who holds a valid visa prescribed by CSQ, who has the right to work in Australia and has been employed as an eligible worker in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry for 6 months or more is eligible for the CSQ funding.

Your visa has to appear on the CSQ Prescribed List of Visas, which covers 53 subclasses across four groups — working and skilled visas, family and partner visas, refugee and humanitarian visas, and a small “other” category that includes resident return and special category visas.

Holding a listed visa is not enough on its own. You also need the right to work in Australia and six months or more employment as an eligible worker in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry.

An International Student Visa is not eligible and does not appear on the list.

Yes, for civil courses. Participants enrolling in a CSQ-funded civil course must be 15 years or older.

Your right to work document may already prove this — a passport or birth certificate shows your date of birth. If it does not, a Queensland Government issued photo identification card can be used. CSQ also allows a driver’s licence as supporting evidence of age for civil courses.

You need two pieces of evidence: one that proves your right to work in Australia, and one that proves you are an eligible worker. You will also be asked to give written consent for the CSQ subsidy, which forms part of the enrolment.

Sometimes more is needed. If you are self-employed, your ABN or ACN registration together with invoices may take you past two documents — or you can provide a statutory declaration covering your business registration and recent work instead. For civil courses, if your right to work document does not show your date of birth, you will also need a Queensland Government issued photo identification card proving you are 15 or older.

Everything must be provided before your training starts. If you have not given us enough evidence by then, you are not eligible for the funding.

You can use a statutory declaration instead. It needs to carry the same information an employer letter would — your role, your daily duties, how long you have been employed, and the worksites or projects you are on — plus your employer’s trading name and business address, and it must be dated. If you are currently out of work, it also needs to say how long for.

Your duties have to be listed specifically. A general statement such as “working on a construction site” will not be accepted, because it does not show what you actually do or that your work directly contributes to building or civil construction.

If you are self-employed, provide an official copy of your ABN or ACN registration showing that you own the business, along with invoices for recent work — or a statutory declaration covering your business registration and recent work instead. It must be a downloaded or issued copy from the official source such as ASIC — screenshots are not accepted, and an ABN search result may be knocked back if it does not show ownership.

Some documents cannot be used at all: a QBCC licence, a QLeave statement and a pay slip do not meet CSQ’s requirements, and a driver’s licence cannot be used to prove your right to work.

Participants wanting to access CSQ funding are required to provide the documentation requested by the RTO before training starts. Where a participant does not provide sufficient evidence, the training provider is under no obligation to offer the funded price.

CSQ may fund up to 100% of the qualification value listed on the program schedule, as long as you meet the participant and program eligibility requirements.

The qualification value is listed in CSQ’s program schedule.

You can be funded for a maximum of eight short courses in a program period. That eight is counted across all CSQ short course programs combined — Building, Civil and Major Contractors — not eight of each.

There are limits inside that cap as well. You can be funded for a maximum of three high risk work units under the Building program, not counting asbestos units, and a maximum of three mobile plant operator units under the Civil program.

Once you have reached a cap, further courses are not funded for the rest of the program period.

Yes, you can complete more than one Higher Qualification in a program year, but only one after the other.

You cannot be enrolled in two qualifications at the same time, and you cannot be enrolled in a qualification and a skill set at the same time. You have to fully complete one before starting the next.

You need to be enrolled and have completed at least one unit of competency by 30 September 2027, and finish the whole qualification by 31 July 2028.

You cannot carry the same qualification across program terms. If you were already enrolled in the same or an equivalent qualification in an earlier term, you are not eligible.

No, to be eligible for the funding, a participant must be completed by the program completion date.

Only partly. No more than 50% of the qualification can be achieved through recognition of prior learning and/or credit transfer.

At least half of the qualification has to be trained and assessed.

No, CSQ will not subsidise a unit of competency or qualification where the participant has already undertaken the training, regardless of the subsidy.

This also includes when a unit of competency is superseded and equivalent to a new version. An exception does apply to identified short courses, where they are an approved refresher course.

No, workers who are responsible for performing duties that involve the maintaining or repairing of existing structures or infrastructure to maintain their current condition would not be eligible. Examples may include, replacing broken tiles or fixing minor roof leaks, fixing leaking pipes.

The duties they are performing do not alter, extend, or enhance structures beyond their regular upkeep as it does not involve construction, major renovation or new building work.

No, workers who are substantially engaged in lawn care, tree planting, and irrigation, garden design and maintenance, soft landscaping (plants, mulch, & soil work), maintaining green spaces, parks & cemeteries (including grave digging) would not be eligible as these duties would fall under horticulture.

Yes, a structural landscaper may be eligible where their work involves construction related duties, such as:

• building retaining walls, constructing paving, decking and fencing
• installing drainage systems, foundations or earthworks for landscaping
• site preparation for landscape areas for example – grading or levelling

No, a participant who is working in a quarry is not eligible, as quarrying is part of the mining and resources sector.

If the participant is doing construction work on a quarry site, such as building infrastructure, clearing land to make way for development of infrastructure, and this is their primary role, they may be eligible. A participant’s eligibility is assessed against the eligible worker criteria.

No, a participant performing maintenance on a mining site is not eligible for CSQ subsidy. The mining and resources sector work is not part of the Queensland Building and Construction Industry.

Routine maintenance, e.g., servicing machinery, equipment repairs is not considered construction work. CSQ funding only applies to building and civil construction work, not general site maintenance in industries outside of the Queensland Building and Construction Industry.

No, they would not be eligible as the work they are performing would fall under manufacturing and not building and construction.

No, to be eligible for the subsidy a participant must be an eligible worker in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry.

Eligibility may only apply where telecommunications work is being performed directly on a building or construction site as part of a broader construction project (e.g. new housing development or civil works) where the employer is responsible for building and construction work.

Administrative, clerical and professional workers are eligible for Higher Qualifications where their employer is in the Queensland Building and Construction industry and their role is relevant and directly connected to the construction activities of the business. These are the roles that would not ordinarily meet the eligible worker requirement.

For short courses, they are not generally eligible, because a participant must meet the eligible worker requirement and demonstrate primary and substantial direct involvement in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry. An exception may apply where their employer operates in the industry and their role is relevant and directly connected to its construction activities.

Yes, where the site supervisor is actively involved in construction activities on-site, overseeing work, ensuring  compliance, and directly managing trades.

They would not be eligible if the role they are performing is primarily office based focusing on contract administration, scheduling without substantial on-site engagement in construction work.

Yes, where they are on site performing the duties directly relating to the Queensland Building and Construction Industry.

Where they are not an eligible worker, and working in the part of a scaffolding business that is responsible for the hiring of scaffolding, they would not be eligible.

Yes, where they can demonstrate primary and substantial direct involvement in the construction industry – they are actively engaged on a construction site in Queensland as part of a building or civil construction project.

Where they are primarily and substantially engaged in performing traffic controller duties for other industries they would not be eligible.

Yes, where they can demonstrate primary and substantial direct involvement in performing the work in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry and they meet all program and participant eligibility requirements.

Not all employees of a Local Council are eligible for CSQ funding. Only employees who can demonstrate primary and substantial direct involvement in the building and construction industry doing the scope of work may be eligible for:

• Short Courses – Civil Construction

If you work for a government department or a government-owned corporation, you are not eligible for CSQ funding unless a specific exemption applies.

CSQ’s published examples include QBuild and RoadTek; state-owned corporations such as CS Energy, CleanCo, Energy Queensland (Ergon, Energex and Yurika), Queensland Rail, Powerlink, Sunwater, SEQ Water, Unitywater, Urban Utilities and the port corporations; and Commonwealth bodies such as Defence Housing Australia, NBN Co, Australia Post, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, Australian universities, the Australian Army, the Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.

That list is examples only, not a complete list. If you are unsure whether your employer counts, ask us before you enrol.

Employers do not qualify for the funding, only their workers may providing they meet all the eligibility requirements.

The employer must be engaged in building and construction work in Queensland, but this alone does not determine a participant’s eligibility.

Eligibility for funding is assessed at the participant level, based on their role and duties performed in the Queensland Building and Construction Industry. When a participant’s eligibility is assessed, the employer should be directly engaged in building and construction work within the Queensland Building and Construction Industry.

Yes, apprentices and trainees who meet the eligible worker criteria are eligible for the 2026-27 Short Courses program only. Regardless of the timing, funding is not payable, where the training required forms part of their training plan to complete their apprenticeship or traineeship.

Apprentices and Trainees are not eligible for:

• Higher Qualifications