Industry groups have called out the Albanese government’s decision to exclude some tradespeople from new skilled visa streams to be created under its proposed migration reforms.
The new fast-tracked stream will see skilled workers who earn more than $135,000 a year be granted visas in as a little as one week after lodging an application, but there are notable exceptions to eligibility.
Tradespeople, machinery operators, drivers, and labourers will be excluded from the proposed system and must instead apply through what the government describes as a “core skills” stream which will use data-driven lists to determine if their skills are in demand.
In addition to having to prove to government they are needed, applicants in the stream will also face a longer wait time, up to 21 days, while they are processed.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil claimed the carve out would not impact the ability of employers to find tradespeople, adding the highest tier of the system was designed to bring in workers who could not be easily trained in Australia.
“Our government feels strongly that for sectors like trades, you should have to prove that there is a skill shortage before you start to recruit overseas,” she said.
“If we don’t have enough electricians and farmers in our country, I believe that’s a failure of our training system.
“If we don’t have enough cybersecurity specialists with 10 years experience, that’s not about the training system, that’s about a genuine new need that we’re going to need to recruit across the world.”
While industry groups welcomed the government’s overall proposal, they have expressed concern about the exemptions.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Tuesday, Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn claimed the government’s stance was “inconsistent” with its own data on what skills were in demand as she revealed the huge shortfall in workers needed to complete major projects.
“We, of course, were really impressed that the government has been focusing on skilled migration and looking at how we can resolve skills. So we were shocked to hear yesterday afternoon by the Minister that we have to continue to prove there’s a shortage,” she said.
“The thing that’s been most disappointing is that they’ve created a three tier system for skilled visas. The first tier is anyone who earns more than $135,000, but there’s a caveat to that. They’ve got to be white collar workers and anyone who is a qualified tradesperson, whether they’re in building and construction or mining, than they are into the second tier.
“We say that that is totally inconsistent with the government’s own data, that we’re the biggest needed trade and any specialised skill to meet skill shortages in this country.
According to Ms Wawn, Australia is currently short “nearly half a million people” over the next three to five years for what will be required to complete all of the major developments planned or in progress.
That includes much of the government’s promised 1.2 million new homes, with the MBA CEO explaining she was “worried” the caveats included in the migration reforms would make achieving the goal more difficult.
“We’ve always been positive about trying to meet those targets, but we’ve actually also been realistic and said we need to ensure the environment is right and we need skilled migration and a prioritisation of skilled migration,” Ms Wawn said.
(SKY NEWS)
