No further tightening needed to 457 temporary skilled migration program

Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, has commented on the announced changes to the 457 temporary skilled migration program.

“The 457 program has already gone through big changes in recent years and it needed freeing up, not further tightening.

“Unemployment is still at historically low levels and there are many areas where local skilled labour is simply not available.

“The 457 program is an economic shock absorber and it should have the flexibility to meet rises and falls in demand. Employers will always prefer to hire locally but we still don’t have the right skills in the right places and employers have been forced to turn to immigration programs to supplement their local workforce.

“Spurious claims by narrow interest groups that the visas are being used widely and deliberately to displace Australian labour ignore the fact that it is costly for employers to hire overseas and that there are extensive checks and balances already in place to ensure an emphasis on training and sourcing labour locally. The existing requirement that no less than market rates be paid provides substantial protection to local workers.

“In our discussions as part of the government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Skilled Migration we did not support further tightening of the 457 program, which is already highly monitored and highly regulated.

“We will look very closely at what the government means when it states that it will restrict labour hire arrangements for 457 visa holders. The labour hire industry is a major and reputable industry that plays an important role in the recruitment and placement of 457 visa holders,” Willox said.