The mass immigration spruikers have shown their hand. In particular Migration Council of Australia chief executive Carla Wilshire:
“My concern is that every time we look at population, we look at it through the lens of infrastructure and congestion rather than through the broader framework of industry policy, global competitiveness and (geo-strategic) positioning,” she said.
University of Melbourne demography professor Peter McDonald told The Australian the reduction in the permanent intake was unwise given the Prime Minister had pledged to create another 1.25 million jobs and that about two million baby boomers were due to retire by 2024.
He said “there was no way in the world” that these 3.25 million jobs could be met “from Australian sources only”, arguing that the gap would need to be filled by temporary skilled workers.
Australians looking to lift their falling standards of living are a terrible drag aren’t they Carla? The Migration Council chair is equally appalling at Domain:
The Australian Law Reform Commission should investigate how to include wage theft as an anti-competitive practice under consumer law, according to a new report.
…Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said very heavy penalties under the Fair Work Act already apply to employers that deliberately underpay their employees and the Fair Work Ombudsman “is a well-resourced and effective regulator”.
The ACTU begs to differ:
Wright and Constantin (2015) surveyed employers using the 457 visa scheme and found that 86% state that they have experienced challenges recruiting workers locally. Despite identified recruiting difficulties, the survey found that fewer than 1 in one hundred employers surveyed had addressed ‘skill shortages’ by raising the salary being offered. Labour ‘shortages’ should first be addressed through a readjustment in the price of labour – increased wages. An inability to find local workers to work at a specified wage rate, coupled with an unwillingness to offer higher wages, does not necessarily imply a skill shortage – particularly where local workers would be willing and able to work if the wage rate was lifted. This differs from a skill shortage in which there are simply not enough people with a particular skill to meet demand.The relatively recent availability of a large and vulnerable pool of temporary migrant workers has undoubtedly contributed to current record low levels of wages growth and a growing reluctance by employers to train local workers…While there are approximately 1.5 million temporary entrants with work rights, the overseas worker team at the Fair Work Ombudsman consists of only 17 full time inspectors to investigate cases of exploitation – over 80,000 visa workers per inspector. Inadequate enforcement and penalties act as an incentive for employers to exploit temporary workers when the benefit from doing so outweighs the cost of the penalty. or where the probability of being caught is sufficiently low….There have been a range of abuses uncovered which have clearly shown that the entire system is broken. From 7-11 and Domino’s to agriculture, construction, food processing to Coles, Dominos and Caltex, it is clear that the abuses occur in a number of visa classes whether they be students, working holiday makers or visa workers in skilled occupations.
And the evidence overwhelmingly supports it.
As for Peter Macdonald, why do we need ever more cheap foreign workers to overcome an issue that may never arrive? Should we do the same to mitigate the risk of a Martian invasion or a rising up of the insects?
Let me put it another way. Decongesting cities via lower immigration will raise productivity helping resolve any worker shortages which, frankly, are aren’t coming anyway as the economy slows drastically ahead.
So long as the flow of cheap foreign labour is stopped, local workers can then share in those productivity gains helping to redress growing inequality tensions.
Or we can continue deeper into the chaos stirred by conflicted immigration big business lobbyists.
