Spud, you talk about short sightedness - you naivety amazes me - this IS happening. Whether it should or not doesn't matter. And not just in Auckland - try Wellington as well. Some of the polytechs run a 12 month pre-trade - with one day a week on work experience. These kids learn enough on this sort of course to be dangerous - they think they know more than they do - and they certainly don't understand the theory behind what they are doing and the ongoing implications. This is why I say don't teach them too much at pre-trade. Teach them things that make them useful and attractive to an employer so they will want to offer them an apprenticeship - trade science, measuring, names of tools, how the industry is set up, who SKILLS are, who the PGDB are, terminology used within the industry, the right tools for the right jobs, some first aid, a Site Safe Certificate, calculations and how they apply on the job - that sort of thing.
Pre trade is exactly that - PRE trade - leave the trade stuff to the apprenticeship otherwise we will end up having shit fights with SKILLS over double dipping on unit standards and time at block course repeating what they have already learned at pre-trade, and paying for it twice as well. If you run a good apprenticeship system within your business you will ensure they learn all they need while in your employ. Pre-trade doesn't train tradespeople, it gets them "apprentice ready".
These guys run the risk with the regulator, but they don't give a shit about that - and I am sure you know builders who just want the cheapest job done they can and will hire these guys to run out pipework etc as they appear to know what they are doing. I can tell you there are labour hire firms out there who are touting "tradesmen" who are exemption holders. I can give you a very clear example of some gas work that was done by a plumbing exemption holder with NO gas training at all, no gas licence, nothing - who was hired out by a very reputable labour hire company to a "we do it all" type company - and this guy installed a Rinnai Infinity - I could detail what was wrong - but read "everything" from the flue to the pipesizing, to the sizeable leak, to the illegal install. And the homeowner had paid $6500 for the job - not even "cheap" and had no hot water! So I don't know what happens in your neck of the woods, but it's not short sighted on my part - I've seen the reality of it mate.