Following the revelation yesterday that the former Labor Government allowed fast food chains McDonalds, Hungry Jacks and KFC to employ around 450 “skilled” workers on 457 visas to ‘flip’ burgers, Labor senator Penny Wong appeared on ABC’s Lateline last night to defend its actions and to call for reform:
Emma Alberici: “Bill Shorten says he wants changes to the 457 visa scheme that will put local workers first. Is that an admission that under Labor, too many foreigners were given local jobs?”
Penny Wong: “Not at all… The policy change that we advocated in the election is one that reinserts or brings back in its totality that safeguard [labour market testing], which I think is reasonable… The key policy question that I think most Australians want to ensure is that those jobs are available first to Australians that are willing and able to do them”…
Emma Alberici: “Labor gave 285 foreign workers jobs at McDonalds in Australia, 74 at Hungry Jacks, and 88 at KFC. Were there no Australians that could do those jobs?”
Penny Wong: “Look, I am responding to the direct policy point, which is we had an approach that required labour market testing – that is the safeguard”…
Emma Alberici: “But these happened under your regime?”…
Penny Wong: “I am not able to tell you what happened with respect to every singly one of those workers. What I can tell you is this…”
Emma Alberici: “But Bill Shorten was employment minister at the time?”
Penny Wong: “Come on. I mean the reality is there was a safeguard that existed under the Labor Government. The Government sought to remove that under trade agreements. I and other raised concerns about that because we think it is a legitimate and fair safeguard. In fact, at the time I recall being criticised as Labor was by the Government about that fact”.
Emma Alberici: “But if there were these safeguards under Labor, how do you explain the fact that foreign workers were allowed to come in here under 457 visas to work in fast food outlets?”
Penny Wong: “Because what I would say to you is that if the Labor approach is: if there are skills shortages, or if there are jobs that Australians are not able to do, then it is appropriate to ensure we enable overseas workers to be employed in those areas. The key principle is the one I have outlined”.
Let’s get the facts on the table regarding 457 visas.
There are four underlying problems with the 457 visa system that need addressing, namely:
- There are way too many occupations on the skills shortages list.
- Those working under the skill level 1 (so-called “Managers and Professionals”) and skill level 2 (so-called “Associate Professionals”) are not subject to any labour market testing to determine whether an Australian can do the job first. Hence, nearly 80% of total 457 visa holders are not currently subject to labour market testing.
- Where labour market testing is required it can be overcome by putting an ad on Facebook or other social media and that is enough to show that you’ve tested the labour market – basically a farce.
- The 457 visa system is not sufficiently responsive either to higher levels of unemployment, or to labour market changes in specific skilled occupations.
These shortcomings have been expertly identified by Dr Joanna Howe, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Adelaide (see here and here) as well as in the recent Senate report entitled A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders.
Given these shortcomings, Labor and the Coalition should seek to implement the recommendations of the aforementioned Senate Report, including:
- indexing the minimum income threshold for 457 visa holders to ordinary weekly earnings, so that it is not eroded over time;
- implementing a more rigorous, independent, evidence-based, and transparent processes for determining the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL);
- implementing stringent labour market testing of all 457 visa nominations to ensure that employers employ locals first wherever possible;
- specifically prohibiting the replacement of local workers by 457 visa workers;
- making employer sponsors of a 457 visa worker (professional) also employ an Australian tertiary graduate in the same enterprise on a one-for-one basis;
- requiring employer sponsors of a 457 visa worker (trade) to demonstrate that apprentices represent 25% of the sponsor’s total trade workforce; and
- implementing a $4,000 training levy paid per 457 visa holder employed in the business.
The solutions are obvious. Stop beating around the bush and fix the problem. Australia has a youth unemployment problem.
