New WA Premier, Mark McGowan, has signaled that unlike his federal Labor counterpart, Bill Shorten, he actually cares about his workers.
With WA unemployment and underemployment sky high:
McGowan has written to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to remove Perth from the Regional Sponsorship Migration Scheme, thus effectively preventing a pathway for overseas workers to gain a visa. From WA Today:
Mr McGowan said he would soon be reviewing the state’s migration occupation list.
The current skilled occupation list has been removed from the Migration WA website.
“The Western Australian skilled migration occupation list (WASMOL) is currently under review. While this review is under way, intending migrants will not be invited to apply for Western Australian State nomination,” the website says.
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The news comes as a Perth business was busted advertising an ad on Gumtree requesting only foreign 457-visa holder apply for electrician jobs, thus closing-off job opportunities for resident WA workers:
After posting the ad, the business faced backlash from those who believed the job should also be open to Australian residents…
A Fair Work Ombudsman spokesperson said the advertisement would be assessed further and UnionsWA secretary Meredith Hammit said the mistake should have been rectified much sooner.
“At a time of high unemployment, it is unacceptable that employers exclude locals from access to job opportunities in preference for temporary overseas workers,” she said.
“Too often the use of temporary overseas workers leads to their being exploited through long hours of work, in unsafe conditions or with poor wages”…
And while it is illegal to pay a 457 visa holder below the market rate, Australian businesses continue to face fines after breaching their business sponsorship obligations.
Rather than labeling anyone wanting a reduction in Australia’s world-leading immigration program “political extremists”, Labor leader Bill Shorten should instead be following the lead of Premier Mark McGowan and crackdown on the myriad of visa rorts that are depriving Australians of job opportunities and clogging our major cities.
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With Australian labour underutilisation running at 14.4%, and youth underutisation running 31.5%:
And earnings growth running at record lows:
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There is simply no justification for running such high levels of immigration and devaluing Australian workers in the process.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
