| Media item | |
| | Visa revamp to unleash boss battles | The Australian,
Australia
by Geoff Chambers
| 21 Sep 2023 | | General News - Page 1 - 1114 words - ID 1934829931 - Photo: Yes - Type: News Item - Size: 530.00cm2 | |
MIGRANTS ON MOVE UNDER SKILLS SHAKE-UP
Employers have warned of a skilled foreign worker exodus from the regions to the cities under sweeping new rights being considered by the Albanese government, making it easier for migrants to shift jobs and extend their stay to make claims for unpaid wages or entitlements.
A leaked government discussion paper obtained by The Australian reveals advanced details of Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil's migration system shakeup that will provide pathways to permanent residency for up to 2.1 million temporary visa-holders.
Industry briefings conducted in the months following the April release of the migration review confirmed the government was moving towards a shake-up of mobility rules that attach sponsored workers with employers.
Proposed worker protection reforms include a new short-term visa option allowing temporary migrant workers to "make a claim for unpaid wages or entitlements or to support an investigation" and the potential for migrants to attend briefings provided by "a relevant union".
A new temporary skill mobility visa, which has sparked concern among industry groups, is being considered by the government to move "away from a single employer sponsorship to a model that allows for mobility between approved employers".
The visa would include settings that make it simpler to leave your employer, provide longer visa validity periods and simplify visa application requirements.
"If the employment relationship with the nominating employer ceases, migrants would now have six-months to find another sponsor and they would have work rights during this period," the discussion paper says.
"Migrant workers would only need to submit a new visa application if they require a new skills assessment. They can move to any approved sponsor, in any industry, as long as they work in an occupation on the occupation list or meet the high income threshold." Ahead of Ms O'Neil releasing the government's final migration strategy in coming weeks, industry leaders have been told that mobility changes would consider shifting sponsor employers to monthly fees.
Seeking to "break the single employer sponsorship model", that unions say leads to worker exploitation, stakeholders were told the government is focused on reforms removing "disincentives that stop migrant workers from seeking improved wages and conditions with another employer, regardless of industry".
Under current arrangements, employer sponsors pay a range of fees upfront including sponsorship, nomination fees and the Skilling Australians Fund levy.
"It is proposed that, other than an upfront fee to become an approved sponsor, sponsors pay the remaining fees on a monthly basis while the visa holder remains in their employment." "This obligation would transfer to any new employer. The government is considering a modest increase in the upfront fee to become a sponsor in order to dissuade new employer 'poaching'." Combined with the government's Temporary Skilled Migration Threshold hike on July 1, lifting the minimum rate paid by employers to temporary skilled shortage visa holders from $53,900 to $70,000, business leaders and the Coalition say major changes to mobility rules could Continued on Page 5
Continued from Page 1 create a jobs emergency in regional Australia.
Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce chief executive Geoff Gwilym said employers would not take the risk if a person "can up sticks after two-months and go to an employer in another area".
"What the government hasn't outlined is how the first employer would recover any of their costs from the second employer. Where does that first employer recoup their $20,000 from. What we don't want is punch-ups in carparks between business owners about who owes what for the labour," Mr Gwilym said.
"And, to be fair to the person migrating or on a temporary work visa, we don't want them involved in a dispute between two employers based on who fronted up the money to get them out here in the first place. I think that's a terrible presentation of how Australia deals with its labour force." Mr Gwilym said proposed mobility changes would "significantly slow down the flow of automotive technicians into regional areas", which he claimed meant Australians would "pay more for your service".
"If you add into that greater flexibility for people on employersponsored visas to move from regional to metropolitan areas that's what they're going to do," he said. Under pressure from the Coalition over the impact of migration on housing and infrastructure, Ms O'Neil said "the overall effect of these changes will not be to increase migration in Australia" and would "reduce the size of the system a bit".
"When we arrived in office we found a migration system which was fundamentally broken. It was slow, expensive, impossible to use, not serving Australians and not serving our economy," she said.
"This is actually not about how many people come to Australia.
It's not about how many people come through; it's about who." Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said if the reforms were adopted, "communities across regional Australia will be left without critical workers like nurses, aged-care staff, teachers, mechanics and chefs". "Labor's changes will see Australians in regional communities lose access to key services while people living in capital cities will face higher rents, worse congestion, and more demand on government services, like hospitals and schools," Mr Tehan said.
"When the local mechanic closes because they have no workers to fix cars, and the corner pub closes because they have no cooks to keep the kitchen open, you can blame Labor.
"Why would a business spend money, time, and effort to recruit workers to fill skills shortages if that worker can leave on day one and move to the city." The discussion paper says a new "essential industries pathway", enabling employers in critical industries experiencing persistent shortages to access migrant labour through a regulated tripartite process, would likely "occur after the migration strategy is released".
Aged-care providers are the only sector currently eligible to make deals with unions to bring in foreign workers. Industry sources said the purpose of the migration program was to "fill dedicated skills gaps in the Australian economy not to see that labour bleed out into other markets". They are also concerned that some migrant workers could seek "to extend their stay and use the proposed avenues as a means of raising disputes".
Restaurant & Catering Australia chief executive Suresh Manickam said there was "massive uncertainty" around mobility changes and fee payments which could be "lost to the ether".
"Is there some sort of recourse for the employer? How does that work? We would have serious concerns about that because it provides no certainty," he said.
"The sponsored worker can just shoot through at the drop of a hat. My fear is under this suggested policy setting it provides no certainty to either the employer or the industry more generally."
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