The federal government is looking for quick answers from a review it has established into the ability of temporary skilled migration schemes to help ease labour shortages.
The federal government is looking for quick answers from a review it has established into the ability of temporary skilled migration schemes to help ease labour shortages.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced the review this week in tandem with a package of short-term measures to tackle the country’s skills and labour shortages.
He said the package had the potential to provide thousands of additional workers in the short term, especially for the mining and construction industries.
Specific measures include an extra 6,000 permanent employer sponsored visas and general skilled migration visas in the skilled migration program in 2007-08.
“Employer sponsored visas are the highest priority because they put a migrant worker directly into a skilled job,” Senator Evans said.
The total number of permanent visas granted under the skill stream of the migration program will increase to 108,500 this year.
The government has also introduced several initiatives to expand working holiday visa programs for young people.
The number of people on working holiday visas has grown from 85,200 in 2001-02 to 126,600 in 2006-07.
Changes to the scheme will allow workers in the construction industry to qualify for the working holiday visas.
Senator Evans said an external reference group, comprising Xstrata Australia chairman Peter Coates, Business Council of Australia deputy chief executive Melinda Cilento and the director of the energy and minerals initiative at the University of WA Tim Shanahan, would review temporary migration schemes.
“The group will provide me with specific advice on ways to ensure the temporary work visa system, also known as the subclass 457 visa program, operates as effectively as possible in contributing to the supply of skilled labour,” Senator Evans said.
The group will also advise the minister on current and anticipated future employment trends and the need for overseas recruitment in the identified sectors.
He said the construction, major infrastructure, tourism and resources industries would be the focus of the external reference group.
Mr Shanahan said studies by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA and his former employer, the Chamber of Minerals Energy, had highlighted a deepening problem.
“WA is in the grip of a skills shortage and a labour shortage,” Mr Shanahan said.
Acknowledging some of the public concern over the 457 visa scheme, he said the scheme needed to ensure workers could not be exploited.
The reference group will provide an interim report to the Minister by March 14, with a final report due in April.
Meanwhile, shadow immigration minister Chris Ellison said new rules introduced by the Rudd government had already served to make the 457 visa scheme more difficult.
Senator Ellison said employers would need to consult with stakeholders, including unions, before their sponsorship applications under the scheme could be approved.
“A new level of red tape for employers and greater powers for union bosses is the result of the introduction of consultation requirements for employers seeking to employ workers under the 457 visa,” Senator Ellison said.
