Skilled migration system needs overhaul to address labour shortages

Skilled migration is critical to addressing Australia’s skills crisis. But for it to be effective, our broken visa system needs a radical fix.

As our correspondent Anthony Galloway reports, a timely review will this week urge the Albanese government to remove a blanket requirement for employers to advertise jobs before they can recruit skilled migrants as part of a major shake-up of the nation’s migration system.

Last year’s national jobs summit highlighted the dire need to reskill our workforce – to boost the economy and remain competitive in a global economy – in the post-COVID recovery.

On Friday, Qantas said it would need to train up to 300 engineers a year as part of a plan to create 8500 new jobs over the next decade to restore its full operation and sustain its billion-dollar profits.

Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has already made it clear the government wants to boost annual migration numbers from 160,000 to 195,000 as part of the pandemic recovery – while moving away from a focus on short-term migrants towards permanency, citizenship and nation building. Last month, the government announced about 19,000 people languishing on temporary protection visas for up to a decade would be eligible to apply for permanent residency. The cohort will be in addition to the nation’s normal annual refugee intake of 13,750.

National statistics show us we can expect population growth to be worryingly low in the coming decade – heightening the need to replenish the labour force through migration. Australia also needs to keep up with constantly evolving technological advances in defence and other emerging industries, including advanced manufacturing, to remain competitive. Our temperate climate, abundance of natural resources and primary industry are not enough to guarantee a future of prosperity.

Australia has long benefited from the skills and talents of migrants who have contributed to large-scale projects, such as the Snowy Hydro Electric Scheme, among other industries and professions. They have also expanded our palates through hospitality and enriched our culture.

A review by former public service chief Martin Parkinson, University of Adelaide law professor Joanna Howe and former Deloitte partner John Azarias urging the government to overhaul labour market-testing rules that require businesses to advertise locally before recruiting skilled migrants is timely. Under the existing outdated and dysfunctional system, employers have to advertise a position for at least four weeks, even when it is clear there is a labour shortage in a particular area. The review is expected to recommend the replacement of this box-ticking requirement with a more independent and robust process to determine genuine skills shortages, in the national interest. This would be a welcome change to prevent the potential misuse of temporary visas to import a more compliant workforce prone to exploitation.

The Sun-Herald supports a move to a more independent process removed from the whims of individual employers, including some with mixed motives. This also reflects OECD recommendations for best practice adopted in Britain, which has an independent labour market testing method.

Former immigration department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi describes the Australian system, which allows employers to determine labour shortage areas, as a “charade”. He also supports scrapping the wage threshold for temporary migrants from $53,900 and increasing it to about $70,000. The need for an increase is at least 10 years overdue.