As expected, migrant groups have slammed the exclusion of temporary visa holders from JobKeeper 2.0:
The Migrant Workers Centre’s director Matt Kunkel said their fears many migrants could face destitution had been realised with community groups seeing a surge in temporary visa holders requiring support.
“This government seems intent on forcing temporary visa holders into poverty,” he said.
“We’ve seen international students lining up around the block for food – we’ve got hundreds of people coming to our centre just trying to find a way of making ends meet.”
The federal government has told temporary visa holders who can no longer support themselves financially to strongly consider returning to their home country…
Mr Kunkel said the government had ignored the fact temporary visa holders were among those still doing it tough amid the pressures of the pandemic.
“This government has continually made decisions at every step of this response of this pandemic to cut them out of any sort of support at all,” he said.
“Without further support from the federal government to provide income support for all this is a crisis that will only continue to deepen”…
Brisbane-based Angelo Di Franco is a dental technician who was one of the tens of thousands of people forced out of work at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Italian 482 skill shortage visa holder was told by his employer he no longer had a position for him because of his ineligibility for the JobKeeper program…
Brisbane-based Angelo Di Franco is a dental technician who was one of the tens of thousands of people forced out of work at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Italian 482 skill shortage visa holder was told by his employer he no longer had a position for him because of his ineligibility for the JobKeeper program.
“Anyone who came here to this country just to work and give their support, they should have the same treatment as everyone,” Mr Di Franco told SBS News.
“I can’t understand why the government treats us in this way, there’s no excuse … we are in the country, in the same boat, so why this discrimination?”
Extending JobKeeper to temporary migrant workers would obviously incentivise them to stay in Australia to compete against local workers for scarce jobs. It would also cost taxpayers many billions of dollars.
This completely contradicts the initial purpose of Australia’s temporary migration program, which was developed to help plug “skills shortages” across the economy.
Temporary visas were also marketed as giving the economy flexibility: the migrant take could quickly expand when skills were needed but then in times of strife those on temporary visas could return to their home countries. Temporary visas were supposed to act as a shock absorber for the Australian economy.
Given the Australian economy is experiencing a deep recession, now is the time for temporary migrant workers to return home.
Keeping them there here will only worsen the unemployment queues, depress wages, and smash the working class.
