(tradesman painter here) if you going to get into spray painting or beating dont do it for money reasons, cause i can tell you first hand it isnt there. it isnt like it was 10 or 15 years ago. if your contracting youll be doing insurance work for companies like aami and all the other sun corp names, and getting commodore money for jobs that they want bentley quality out of.
as a painter and beater industry standards are now pushing for the clock on and off system when working on cars. when i start a job i get the job number and clock on to it. i then have to finish the job under or on the target hours listed on the job sheet. if your a contractor your on your coin to get it finished quick, but if your on wage your expected to finish under the allotted hours or on time. if you go over all the time you might not be considered a valued employee if you get my drift. same stuff applies to an apprentice, its a tough trade and if you dont pick up stuff quickly they might not keep you around.
that being said ive always found mature aged apprentices seem to be more switched on then the average 16 17 year old kid. if your switching careers, you want to be there, and your switched on youll do well. but like anything you have to have a passion for what your doing or it will go no where. i still enjoy what i do after 8 years in the trade, if i didnt id have already been gone, cause theres so many headaches to deal with...
as for the money my first year i didnt make more than $250 a week. not sure what NSW wages are but what ever it is trust me, prepare to work almost for free for the first 3 years. once you get a hang of it you can start doing back yard jobs for cash to boost your pocket money, and ease the strain...