The Turnbull Government is reportedly set to water-down its already weak changes to Australia’s over-used and abused temporary ‘skilled’ visa system. From The AFR:
The retail, hospitality and tourism industries have… made a “really strong case” to protect their top international jobs such as retail buyers, merchandise planners, digital operators, hotel managers and chefs, according to private submissions made to the Turnbull government on Friday.
Hot air balloon pilots and medical glass blowers are among niche positions that industry groups argue Immigration Minister Peter Dutton should also urgently remove from the list of more than 400 occupations excluded from the 457 visas…
Australia’s single largest employer, the retail sector, said its survey revealed retail buyers, merchandise planners, merchandise designers and digital commerce were four critical roles required and it had asked the department to reinstate retail buyers to the short term skilled occupation list.
“The recent changes to the 457 visa program have restricted Australian retailers in accessing specific roles required in modern day retailing, further crippling the growth and development of local retail talent,” Australian Retailers Association Russell Zimmerman said…
The university sector had also been lobbying hard, arguing it was “very negatively affected”. The University of Sydney said it had more than 300 members of staff on 457 visas.
The Turnbull Government’s announced changes to temporary skilled visas involved:
- Implementing a new two-year temporary visa system that has no path to permanent residency, as well as a four-year scheme for highly skilled positions where there is a proven labour shortage;
- Cutting the range of jobs that foreign workers can apply for by around 200 occupations;
- Mandatory employer-conducted labour market testing for all visas issued under the new scheme; and
- Mandatory English language proficiency.
While the changes sounded good, they are really a sham.
First, the appallingly low pay floor of $53,900 (non-indexed) was been retained, which is 35% below the average full-time salary of $82,789. Thus, employers will still be incentivised to hire cheap foreign labour over locals, and the temporary skilled visa system will continue to undermine the pay and working conditions of local workers.
Second, the mandatory labour market testing requirements implemented by the Coalition are a sham because they allow employer-conducted testing rather than from an independent body, and can be easily overcome by placing an ad on social media.
Third, the initially proposed changes to the Consolidated Skilled Occupations List (CSOL) were immaterial, since they would have only reduced the use of temporary skilled visas by 8%. And now the CSOL is expected to be further watered-down, making the Coalition’s reforms even less effective.
In any event, rather than tinkering with the CSOL, the federal government should simply raise the minimum salary earned by temporary skilled visa workers from the current pitiful level of $53,900 to at least the average full-time earnings (currently $82,789), and preferably higher. We are talking about ‘skilled’ workers after all, whose salary rates should be set well above the national average (which includes unskilled workers), not well below it.
Raising the minimum salary threshold in this way would discourage firms from hiring cheap foreign labour over locals, as has occurred en masse in areas like IT. It would also eliminate the need for labour market testing, and would greatly simplify the whole temporary skilled visa system.
Until such changes are implemented, the temporary skilled visa system will continue to be over-used and abused by employers, undermining the pay and working conditions of local workers.
