Sources within the Coalition have suggested that it was considering changes to the 457 visa system for temporary foreign workers before Opposition Leader Bill Shorten outlined plans for a crackdown. From The AFR:
…senior sources said the Turnbull government had been mulling changes of its own in response to growing anxiety among sections of the public and its own backbench. The fear now is that, if it reacts, it will be seen to be following Labor…
Divisions within the Coalition over foreign workers emerged when Queensland Liberal-National MP George Christensen, so often a bellwether for broader internal dissent, launched his own campaign entitled “Aussie Jobs for Aussie Workers”…
“The explosion of 457 workers that we saw under the Labor government, which peaked in 2012, saw many foreigners come to the region to take up jobs and many of those workers remain. This has caused considerable resentment and public backlash in a community where Australian workers have lost jobs and cannot find new ones.
“It is important to ensure Australian workers are given a priority for jobs as the economy recovers.”
What a suprise: do-nothing Malcolm beaten to the punch again. First it was negative gearing and now 457 visas.
But rather than admit that Labor’s policy is sensible, and offer bi-partisan support, we are likely to instead see the Coalition oppose Labor’s changes because they don’t want to be seen as following. Politics is a game of tribes these days where actual policy making in the public interest gets kicked to the curb. The result being that it is difficult to get any reform done.
The 457 visa system is being rorted. It’s as clear as day. The fact is there are nearly 200,000 457 visa holders in Australia, 80% of whom are not labour market tested and many of whom are working in semi-skilled roles (e.g. chefs, cooks and retail). This is ridiculous when there are so many unemployed and underemployed Australians (see Monday’s post).
The Senate’s report entitled A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders, released in March, explicitly raised concern about 457 visas, noting that “the committee received evidence that the 457 visa program was having a detrimental impact on the employment opportunities for Australian graduates in specific occupations such as engineering and nursing”, and that “the 457 visa program is not sufficiently responsive either to higher levels of unemployment, or to labour market changes in specific skilled occupations”.
The Committee, therefore, recommended the following changes to the 457 visa system:
- indexing the minimum income threshold for 457 visa holders to ordinary weekly earnings, so that it is not eroded over time;
- implementation of more rigorous, independent, evidence-based, and transparent processes for determining the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL), which it sees as ad hoc and ineffective;
- stringent labour market testing of all 457 visa nominations to ensure that employers employ locals first wherever possible;
- replacement of local workers by 457 visa workers be specifically prohibited;
- employer sponsors of a 457 visa worker (professional) be required to also employ an Australian tertiary graduate in the same enterprise on a one-for-one basis;
- employer sponsors of a 457 visa worker (trade) be required to demonstrate that apprentices represent 25 per cent of the sponsor’s total trade workforce; and
- implementation of a $4,000 training levy paid per 457 visa holder employed in the business.
If Do-nothing Malcolm has any sense, he will capitulate. He is on a hiding to nothing here.
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