AUSTRALIA IMMIGRATION LOOKING TO REVIEW VISAS UNDER SUBCLASS 400 416 417 462 457 AND INVITING COMMENTS UNTIL 3OTH JANUARY 2015 BUT WESTERN FARMERS ARE TOO MUCH HAPPY LOOKING FOREIGN WORKERS SAYING YOUNG AUSTRALIANS ARE NOT INTERESTED IN FARMING JOBS CLAMMING TO BE WIN WIN SITUATION FOR RURAL INDUSTRIES SINCE TOUGH ENGLISH TEST REQUIREMENTS MAY BE WAIVED FOR 457 WORK PERMIT 16 Jan, 2015 02:00 AM CHANGES proposed to Australias skilled migration and temporary activity visa program sound like a win-win for rural industries, WAFarmers president Dale Park said this week. Anything that allows us to employ on a more than one-off basis, good workers that weve trained up and that were happy with, will be a good thing, Mr Park said. The proposed changes aim to reduce unnecessary red tape and impost on Australian business and to implement a new skilled migration visa framework that is supportive, flexible and responsive, according to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. This sounds like a win-win for rural industries, Mr Park said. The department is part-way through a review of the skilled migration and 400-series visa program, which includes the controversial 457 skilled labour visa allowing up to four years residency, the 417 and 462 working holiday visas often depended on by rural industries to meet critical short-term labour needs, and the 416 seasonal worker visa. It has upset the Australian Council of Trade Unions and Federal Member for Perth Alannah MacTiernan with its proposal for a revised short-term mobility visa allowing successful applicants to carry out specialised and intermittent work in Australia for up to 12 months. There is no requirement proposed for employers to market-test positions first - as they would be required to do under 457 visa arrangements - to ensure that Australian citizens are not overlooked for the jobs. The controversial English language test, part of the 457 visa application process but recommended by an independent panel review to be eased, is also not a proposed requirement. Other public interest criteria would still apply, with applicants having to meet health, character and security requirements, the department has announced. It plans to canvass the proposed changes with stakeholders this month, with submissions called for up to Friday, January 30. Stakeholders will also be able to participate in a survey during February by commenting on the submissions received in January. Under the proposed revised short-term mobility visa, applicants could not bring other family members and would be invited by employers who would need to provide a statement outlining the type of work to be undertaken, the duration of the work and pay rates. Importantly, multiple entries to Australia will be permitted which is not the case with some existing temporary visas. Mr Park said WAFarmers had been advocating for the government to allow re-entry to Australia on successive occasions of successful visa applicants prepared to come to work in rural industries. He also supported proposals to remove red tape from the employment department seasonal worker program that is facilitated via the immigration and border protections 416 visa. A special program agreement and sponsorship processes are proposed to be removed, making it simpler for employers to access the program. Australians do not want to do the work so rural industries have to rely on workers coming here on temporary visas, Mr Park said. If they are good workers and they want to come back, and we want them back, it makes sense to enable that to happen. This sounds like a better system. In relation to the 457 visas and the English language test, one of our members has said to me that an Australian would have trouble passing it. He said the proposed changes had the potential to improve access to labour to meet short-term or seasonal demands across the whole spectrum of rural industries. Mr Park was one of three people from the rural sector to make a submission to a review panel hearing last year and he also put WAFarmers views on the need to free up labour markets to WA senator and Immigration and Border Protection Assistant Minister Michaelia Cash in August. It is not yet clear whether WAs abattoirs, which rely heavily on workers who have come from overseas, will benefit from the proposed visas simplifications. Tony Bessell, plant manager of the WA Meat Marketing Co-operative Ltd (WAMMCO) abattoir and processing operation at Katanning, said he did not think the proposed changes would be of benefit to the meat industry under the current rules. Because of past indiscretions by some operators, the meat industry was excluded from employing workers from overseas under 457 visa arrangements, Mr Bessell said. While he had heard that some abattoirs in other areas may employ workers who came to Australia on holiday visas, Mr Bessell said WAMMCO - one of Australias largest exporters of lamb - at Katanning had a workforce mainly made up of people who had come from overseas but had some form of residency in Australia. We pretty much rely on migrants who were humanitarian refugees, he said. Ms MacTiernan last week claimed Western Australians will have the most to lose from the proposed visa changes. WA has the highest proportion of 457 visa holders, at nearly 20 per cent of the national intake of about 100,900, and the States unemployment rate has been rising since November 2013 and is at 5.2pc, she said. Labor has serious concerns about any temporary skilled labour program that does not incorporate labour market testing as a core principle. For information on the proposed changes to visas, see immi.gov.au/ pub-res/Pages/discussion-paper s/overview.aspx, review of the skilled migration and temporary activity visa programs.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 07:19:06 +0000
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