tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/457-visas-6046/articles457 visas – The Conversation2019-04-22T20:24:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158162019-04-22T20:24:24Z2019-04-22T20:24:24ZCrackdown on foreign workers is part of Shorten’s wages campaign<p>Bill Shorten is pledging an overhaul of the visa system for foreign workers, saying this is needed to make sure employers do not import cheap labour instead of hiring locals.</p>
<p>As Shorten campaigns on the theme of wages this week, he will cast the measures he unveils on Tuesday as levelling the playing field for Australian workers, and preventing their pay being undercut.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the government will announce a $100 million Australian Business Growth Fund to provide long-term capital for small and family enterprises so they can grow without having to give up control. </p>
<p>Scott Morrison says the fund would assist “businesses like a local brewery or restaurant that wants to expand interstate or even overseas, or maybe a family-owned construction company wanting to grow so they can meet demand”.</p>
<p>In its moves in relation to temporary workers, a Labor government would boost the lowest wage that could be paid under a 457-style visa, crack down on the exploitation of foreign workers, and ensure businesses looked to local people first.</p>
<p>“The top end of town [is] turning to temporary work visas to undercut local jobs, wages and conditions,” Labor says in a statement from Shorten, employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor and immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann. </p>
<p>“When businesses use overseas workers as a cheap replacement for local workers it contributes to wage stagnation.”</p>
<p>Labor says there are more than one million underemployed Australians wanting more work, and youth unemployment is 11.7%, compared with the 5% general unemployment rate. There are nearly 1.6 million temporary visa holders with work rights in Australia.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-can-55-million-get-clive-palmer-back-into-parliamentary-game-115811">View from The Hill: Can $55 million get Clive Palmer back into parliamentary game?</a>
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<p>A Shorten government would raise the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) to A$65,000 with annual indexing. This is the lowest wage a worker can be paid under a 457-style visa, and has been frozen since 2013. At present it is about $54,000.</p>
<p>Loopholes (such as providing substandard accommodation) that enable employers to artificially inflate salaries to meet the TSMIT would be closed.</p>
<p>“Where wages are above the minimum TSMIT, the market salary rate framework will continue to operate as a core component of the temporary skilled visa system,” the statement says.</p>
<p>Labor would take recommendations on this framework from a tripartite body representing government, unions and employers.</p>
<p>To prevent exploitation of workers, an ALP government would</p>
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<li><p>target exploitative employers by increasing funding for a joint agency taskforce</p></li>
<li><p>create a public register of the number of visa holders engaged by individual workplaces and employers</p></li>
<li><p>require employers to provide their workers with relevant employment documentation and information about support services</p></li>
<li><p>extend the Fair Work Ombudsman’s regulatory powers to the inspection of workplaces and investigation of employer breaches of visa work conditions</p></li>
<li><p>extend the current standing for unions to commence civil actions for breaches of the Fair Work Act to include breaches relating to visa work conditions.</p></li>
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<p>Labor says the situation needs to end where about four in five temporary skilled worker visas are given for occupations for which there aren’t local shortages.</p>
<p>It would establish a tripartite Australian Skills Authority (ASA) to restrict temporary work visas to filling genuine shortages.</p>
<p>“Labor will also introduce the Australian Jobs Test to prevent labour agreements from being entered into unless they support or create jobs for Australian workers.”</p>
<p>As well it would “crack down on unqualified and under-qualified temporary workers by strengthening enforcement of skills assessment and occupational licensing requirements.”</p>
<h2>Business growth fund</h2>
<p>The government says it expects its proposed new business fund would expand to $1 billion over five to ten years.</p>
<p>Under the plan, “the government will partner with other financial institutions to provide equity funding to small and family businesses”.</p>
<p>It would back 30-50 businesses each year with annual turnovers between $2 million and $50 million.</p>
<p>“The Fund will be modelled on the similar vehicles that have been set up in both Canada and the United Kingdom,” the government says in a statement. Since 2011, the Business Growth Fund in the UK has invested about $2.7 billion over a range of sectors.</p>
<p>The government has been working with banks and other financial institutions on the proposal for the fund, which it believes would get private sector support. </p>
<p>More widely, Morrison said that through its plan for a stronger economy, the Coalition would “create 250,000 new small and family businesses across the country over the next five years.”</p>
<h2>Labor would replace Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility</h2>
<p>In another Tuesday announcement Labor will commit to replacing the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) with a new fund to help build nationally-important infrastructure projects like gas pipelines across Queensland and the Northern Territory.</p>
<p>Labor says NAIF, set up by the Coalition government, has been an “abject failure”; hardly anything has been spent and it has been criticised by the auditor-general.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Labor government would boost the lowest wage that could be paid under a 457-style visa, crack down on the exploitation of foreign workers, and ensure businesses looked to local people first.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1135572019-04-10T20:11:03Z2019-04-10T20:11:03ZDog whistles, regional visas and wage theft – immigration policy is again an election issue<p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/coalition-record-2019-69102">series</a> examining the Coalition government’s record on key issues while in power and what Labor is promising if it wins the 2019 federal election.</em></p>
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<p>Immigration policy will be a major issue in the 2019 federal election. We know this because immigration has featured significantly at every Australian election since the 2001 “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Overboard_affair">children overboard</a>” election. </p>
<p>David Marr and Marian Wilkinson argued in their 2003 book, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/dark-victory-20030329-gdgiaw.html">Dark Victory</a>, that willingness to play the race card in relation to boat people was a decisive factor in John Howard’s election victory. For Tony Abbott, “Stop the boats” was a major campaign theme when the Coalition won back government in the 2013 election. The current prime minister, Scott Morrison, rose to prominence as Abbott’s unyielding immigration minister who stopped the boats.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mv-tampa-and-the-transformation-of-asylum-seeker-policy-74078">Australian politics explainer: the MV Tampa and the transformation of asylum-seeker policy</a>
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<p>While the <a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-attacks-strike-at-the-heart-of-muslims-safe-places-from-islamophobia-113922">events of Christchurch</a> may have cramped the opportunity for the Coalition to run hard on fear, promising to be tough on borders and tough on (Muslim) terrorism, the dog-whistle politics on the issue of refugees and asylum seekers will be there for those wanting to hear it.</p>
<p>For Labor these policy issues have been difficult. It was Kevin Rudd who as PM <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-more-asylum-in-australia-for-those-arriving-by-boat-rudd-16238">declared that those arriving by boat would never be settled in Australia</a>, irrespective of the validity of their claims for protection under the UN <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-lk/1951-refugee-convention.html">Refugee Convention</a>. Labor supported efforts to get children out of detention on Manus Island, but doesn’t want to give the conservatives too much space to convincingly advance a “Labor weak on border security” line.</p>
<h2>Humanitarian intake is growing</h2>
<p>The Coalition governments of Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison have in fact increased Australia’s annual humanitarian intake significantly. The number has <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201516/Migration">risen from just over 13,750 to more than 18,000</a> – though the government has not loudly broadcast this fact. </p>
<p>In addition, Abbott in 2015 announced a <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-ups-its-syrian-refugee-intake-but-what-about-its-own-backyard-47160">one-off intake of 12,000 Syrian conflict refugees</a>. Most of them arrived in 2017, effectively doubling the annual refugee intake in that year.</p>
<p>Australia – and the refugees – coped well, demonstrating the nation’s capacity to significantly increase refugee intakes. <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-are-integrating-just-fine-in-regional-australia-101188">Our research</a> with newly arrived Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugee families suggests they are settling well in Australia, receiving a warm welcome from locals in the cities and regional centres. Employment and family reunification are their key worries.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-are-integrating-just-fine-in-regional-australia-101188">Refugees are integrating just fine in regional Australia</a>
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<p>Labor’s shadow immigration minister, Shayne Neumann, has flagged a new <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/punjabi/en/article/2019/02/12/labor-government-will-replace-new-sponsored-parent-visa">temporary sponsored visa for the parents of migrants</a>. Unlike the current visa, it does not have a cap and it might assist refugees to get their parents to Australia.</p>
<p>Labor has <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/asylumseekers">announced it will increase the annual humanitarian intake</a> of refugees to 27,000 by 2025. It will also abolish <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/temporary-protection-785">Temporary Protection Visas</a> (TPVs). These visas provide boat arrivals who are found to be refugees the right to stay for only three years with work and study rights and access to Centrelink payments. As Labor argues, this places them “in a permanent state of limbo”.</p>
<p>The Coalition parties have not announced their policy intentions in relation to humanitarian intakes or the rights of asylum seekers, including those who arrived by boat.</p>
<p>At a time when Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton scans the horizon for new boat arrivals, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/worst-ever-immigration-minister-asylum-seekers-jet-in-under-dutton-s-nose-20190302-p511d8.html">record number of asylum seekers are arriving by plane</a> under tourist visas. In 2013-14, there were 18,718 asylum applications, including 9,072 boat arrivals. This had increased to <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/12/09/record-number-asylum-seekers-peter-dutton/">27,931 asylum applications, with no boat arrivals, by 2017-18</a>. </p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Home Affairs</span></span>
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<p>Each year the Australia government sets the permanent immigration targets. Until recently this was set at 190,00. In practice just <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/report-migration-program-2017-18.pdf">162,000 immigrants have been admitted</a> over the past year or so. </p>
<h2>A token cut and 2 new visas</h2>
<p>In this context Prime Minister Morrison’s announcement that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/slimmed-down-migration-program-has-regional-focus-113847">permanent immigration target will be cut to 160,000</a> is really no change in immigration policy. There is nothing to see here if you dismiss the need to be loudly anti-immigration in the current populist political climate.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-population-plan-is-more-about-maximising-win-wins-than-cutting-numbers-114190">Government's population plan is more about maximising 'win-wins' than cutting numbers</a>
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<p>The announcement is linked to congestion-busting in the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne. It is accompanied by the <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/federal-budget/immigration-cuts-and-regional-visas-to-ease-strain-on-sydney-and-melbourne/news-story/da7de88690966d4c202ab0d372a5b253">introduction of two new visa pathways</a> – the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) Visa and the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) Visa – for skilled migrants to live and work in regional areas for five years.</p>
<p>These visas offer the carrot of permanent residency at the end of three years to attract new immigrants to regional Australia. In addition, the budget announced that scholarships to the tune of $94 million over four years would be available to domestic and international students who study there.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/settling-migrants-in-regional-areas-will-need-more-than-a-visa-to-succeed-114196">Settling migrants in regional areas will need more than a visa to succeed</a>
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<h2>Temporary migrants exploited</h2>
<p>Most immigration policy debates centre on permanent immigration intakes, particularly of humanitarian immigrants and asylum seekers. Yet annual temporary migrant intakes – international students, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/WorkingHoliday">working holidaymakers</a> and temporary skilled workers – are <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/MigrationStatistics#_Table_2:_Temporary%20_and%20214,583%20Working%20Holiday%20Makers%20on%20417%20and%20462%20Visas">three times greater</a> than the permanent intake. <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/mwt_final_report.pdf">Over 800,000 temporary migrants</a> were in Australia in June 2018.</p>
<p>One key policy issue is the exploitation of temporary migrant workers. The Turnbull government abolished the 457 temporary skilled migration visa because of increasing <a href="https://theconversation.com/457-visa-changes-wont-impact-on-wider-temporary-education-workforce-and-maybe-thats-deliberate-76579">reports of abuse and exploitation by employers</a>.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017/11/apo-nid120406-1162971.pdf">recent survey</a> of 4,332 temporary migrant workers found “increasing evidence of widespread exploitation of temporary migrant workers, including wage theft”. <a href="https://www.mwji.org/highlights/2017/11/14/report-released-wage-theft-in-australia-findings-of-the-national-temporary-migrant-work-survey%20and%20other%20abuses%20of%20workers%20rights">Half of all temporary migrant workers may be underpaid</a>. About one in three international students and backpackers earned $12 an hour or less – about half the minimum wage.</p>
<p>This issue goes not just to the ethics of maintaining a temporary migration program largely premised on migrant worker exploitation. It also resonates with Labor’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-05/labors-budget-reply-was-a-careful-pitch-to-voters/10973572">campaign for a living wage and the restoration of penalty rates</a> for workers in response to the low rate of real wage growth in Australia, which constrains consumer demand.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ultra-low-wage-growth-isnt-accidental-it-is-the-intended-outcome-of-government-policies-113357">Ultra low wage growth isn't accidental. It is the intended outcome of government policies</a>
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<p>The 2019-20 federal budget allocated extra funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman to bolster enforcement action against employers who exploit vulnerable workers and announced the National Labour Hire Registration Scheme to <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/migrant-workers-taskforce">target rogue operators in the labour hire industry</a>. However, the research suggests wage theft is widespread in the small business sector, a key target for tax relief in the budget. It is an area of immigration policy that requires considerably more resources and punch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jock Collins receives funding for three research projects from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>Immigration has featured as an issue in every Australian election since 2001. But the numbers often tell a different story from the political posturing.Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/764802017-04-20T11:36:10Z2017-04-20T11:36:10ZGrattan on Friday: Malcolm Turnbull forges ‘values’ into political weaponry<p>Malcolm Turnbull’s spectacular elevation of “Australian values” raises questions about his own values. In particular, has he once again forfeited his political integrity?</p>
<p>This week’s targeting of foreign skilled workers and the new, <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-to-lengthen-permanent-residency-period-for-aspiring-citizens-76424">tougher citizenship requirements</a> smack of a desperate effort to tap into community concerns and insecurities, whether those fears are about job prospects, ethnic crime gangs, or terrorism.</p>
<p>A few years ago Turnbull, as a cabinet minister, would likely have challenged aspects of such measures if they were brought forward. Now, with Peter Dutton pushing him along, Turnbull is unashamedly exploiting anti-foreign and anti-Muslim sentiments as part of a wider strategy to try to combat bad polls, stop leakage to Pauline Hanson, wedge Bill Shorten, and gain some positive traction.</p>
<p>In 2013, when then prime minister Julia Gillard had the 457 visa for skilled foreign workers in her sights, Turnbull tweeted that her “attack on 457s strikes at heart of skilled migration system. & hypocritical”, and: “If you support skilled migration and a diverse society you don’t amp up chauvinistic rhetoric!”</p>
<p>When his tweeting was raised with him this week, Turnbull replied dismissively: “I’m glad that you’re analysing tweets from four years ago, but I’m focused on governing Australia today, and I’m putting Australian jobs first.”</p>
<p>Both sides of politics have been shameless in using 457s as a political football, and Labor deserves as much condemnation as the Coalition. Having said that, politicians can’t be allowed without challenge to throw aside their past stands. Changed circumstances can justify a new position but in this case what’s at play is mainly political calculation.</p>
<p>Of course any rorting of the foreign workers’ system should be rooted out; equally, the employment of Australians should be encouraged. But the replacement of the 457 visa with new arrangements was primarily about sending a political message.</p>
<p>This may resonate with a section of the electorate, though that could come with downsides for the government from particular businesses and ethnic communities (especially the Indians) that find themselves disadvantaged.</p>
<p>The “values” message from the citizenship changes is much bolder and cruder.</p>
<p>It is also potentially alarming, because it exploits people’s suspicions of “outsiders” and could provoke division rather than inclusion in our multicultural society.</p>
<p>Among the planned changes, there will be a longer period of permanent residency required before citizenship can be sought, more stringent English-language standards, and the need to demonstrate tangible measures have been taken to integrate into the general community.</p>
<p>The extended time is reasonable enough. At first blush, the argument for a higher English standard seems attractive, but a nuanced approach would recognise that some immigrants might have trouble acquiring better English but be fine citizens.</p>
<p>Much more provocatively, the government proposes putting into the citizenship test “more meaningful questions that assess an applicant’s understanding of – and commitment to – our shared values and responsibilities”.</p>
<p>Sounds OK, put like that? But the government revealed its true intent when it provided to the media four “sample” questions. To be fair, it did say they were not necessarily the ones that would be in the test – there will be some weeks of public consultation.</p>
<p>The “samples” were: </p>
<p>1) Does Australia’s principle of freedom of religion mean that in some situations it is permissible to force children to marry? </p>
<p>2) In Australia’s multicultural society, under which circumstances is it permissible to cut female genitals? </p>
<p>3) While it is illegal to use violence in public under what circumstances can you strike your spouse in the privacy of your home? </p>
<p>4) Under what circumstances is it appropriate to prohibit girls from education?</p>
<p>If anyone thinks these questions are not directed to pick up on anti-Muslim feeling, consider this. What would Finance Minister Mathias Cormann have thought if confronted with such questions when he became an Australian citizen? It’s a fair bet he’d have been amazed. But then they are not about former Belgians like Cormann. They are about Muslims.</p>
<p>The questions themselves are bizarre. If you were Machiavellian you might wonder if they’d been framed with the express purpose of demonstrating their absurdity.</p>
<p>Present laws – which new citizens are currently required to promise to uphold – prohibit forcing children to marry and female genital mutilation. Domestic violence is a crime.</p>
<p>If these questions are seeking to seriously test “values” – as distinct from use “values” as a political tool – they are naïve, loaded and designed to confuse. No responsible pollster would allow them to be asked in an opinion poll.</p>
<p>Beyond that, wouldn’t someone with bad values just game the system? Dutton agrees they would, but doesn’t put much weight on the problem.</p>
<p>No doubt a questionnaire could be drafted to deep dive into a prospective citizen’s values. But it would have to be much more extensive and sophisticated than would be practical for the test.</p>
<p>And let us keep perspective. While the citizenship system hasn’t been and can’t be watertight, the question posed in an earlier debate a decade ago by then Liberal MP Petro Georgiou is worth asking again: “Is there any evidence from the hundreds of MPs of all political persuasions who attend citizenship ceremonies that they doubt the sincerity of the people who take the pledge?”</p>
<p>The new push on citizenship presents some challenges to Bill Shorten, but Labor has had a low-key response, not making an issue of it.</p>
<p>For Turnbull, what looks to be a cynical exercise could go one of two ways.</p>
<p>People could see it as muscled-up Malcolm decisively positioning himself to respond to those in the community’s “mainstream” who feel neglected in an age of identity politics. “What this is about – the vast majority of Australians are pleased to see we are standing up for Australian values,” Turnbull declared on Thursday night.</p>
<p>Or people could view it as further evidence of Turnbull being willing opportunistically to belie his true self.</p>
<p>The focus groups will have some answers over the next weeks and months.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/jw7bg-69e505?from=yiiadmin" data-link="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/jw7bg-69e505?from=yiiadmin" height="100" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76480/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Malcolm Turnbull’s spectacular elevation of ‘Australian values’ raises questions about his own values.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/764202017-04-19T11:43:54Z2017-04-19T11:43:54ZPolitics podcast: Jenny Lambert on the 457 visa scrapping<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165837/original/image-20170419-6375-1br27v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pat Hutchens/TC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, the government announced it would abolish the 457 visa and replace it with a new temporary skill shortage visa program. The change has met a mixed response from businesses. </p>
<p>Jenny Lambert, director of employment, education and training at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says the key issue for the business community is to “try and reset the button on confidence in the temporary skilled migration system”. </p>
<p>“We really have accepted that we have to get rid of the 457 visa and put in place arrangements that the community can be more confident in. That said, we’ve got some issues about the detail and we’re willing and wanting to work with the government on that,” Lambert says.</p>
<p>Lambert maintains that rorting was never a big part of the 457 visa program.</p>
<p>“When you look at the bigger picture of use of the 457 over the last few years, the predominant users are state governments in their health portfolios, universities and academia bringing in specialist researchers and scientists … and also highly skilled CEOs and managers of multinational corporations. </p>
<p>"So 75% of the use of 457 over the last five years has been in that high-skilled end. So when we talk about rorting, we’ve always seen it as more at the margins, at the lower-skilled end of the program.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This week, the government announced it would abolish the 457 visa and replace it with a new temporary skill shortage visa program.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/763212017-04-18T07:28:22Z2017-04-18T07:28:22ZAustralian government axes 457 work visa: experts react<p>The Turnbull government is <a href="http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/457-abolition-replacement">axing the 457 visa program</a> and replacing it with a new Temporary Skill Shortage Visa. This comes after a history of problems with the 457 program, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/evidence-of-employers-misusing-457-visas-shows-need-for-reform-41443">uncovered abuse of workers</a>. </p>
<p>The new scheme will be made up of two streams, one short term (issued for two years) and one medium term (issued for up to four years for “more focused occupation lists”). Both of these will be subject to labour market testing including a requirement for two years of work experience, a market salary rate assessment and a new non-discriminatory workforce test.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-30-06-2016.pdf">As of June 30, 2016</a> there were 94,890 primary 457 visa holders in Australia. This means the total number of primary 457 visa holders who are sponsored by an employer is equal to less than 1% of the Australian labour market. This <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/br0169-30-june-2016.pdf">proportion rises</a> if international students, backpackers and other temporary migrants are included. </p>
<p>The number of eligible occupations for the new types of visas will be shortened by 216, with 268 available for the two year visa and 167 for the longer four year visa. Applicants will also now have to meet English language requirements and undergo a criminal check.</p>
<p>The changes are in effect immediately and will be fully implemented by 2018.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Previous coverage:</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-issues-with-the-457-visa-arent-being-addressed-68970">The real issues with the 457 visa aren’t being addressed</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/business-briefing-breaking-down-the-457-visa-myths-68913">A 457 visa worker is more likely to take the job of a young academic than that of a blue collar worker</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-migrant-workers-are-critical-to-the-future-of-australias-agricultural-industry-66422">How migrant workers are critical to the future of Australia’s agricultural industry</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/election-factcheck-qanda-was-jacqui-lambie-right-about-apprenticeships-and-457-visas-60241">FactCheck Q&A: was Jacqui Lambie right about apprenticeships and 457 visas?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-hear-the-stories-of-exploited-unlawful-migrant-workers-not-just-deport-them-73348">We need to hear the stories of exploited unlawful migrant workers, not just deport them</a></p>
<hr>
<h2>Who is affected?</h2>
<p><strong>Henry Sherrell, Research Officer, Development Policy Centre, ANU</strong></p>
<p>While it is easy to blame immigrants for questions on Australian jobs, when it comes to the 457 visa program, employers are the ones who generate visas. The visa program is closely tied to the strength or weakness of the labour market. </p>
<p>The policy change most likely to reduce the number of temporary skilled migrants is the changes to the list of occupations available to sponsor. By removing certain occupations, employers have a more limited set of job placements for migrants. Over time, this could reduce the temporary skilled migrants working in the labour market overall. </p>
<p>As employers must sponsor migrants, it is employers who drive the trends of how many visas are being granted from year to year. As the economy grows, demand for 457 visas should increase. The same also works in reverse. This is exactly what has happened, as the population of 457 visa holders <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-30-06-2016.pdf">has fallen</a> from about 110,000 in 2013 to under 95,000 by June 2016. </p>
<p>We can see this echoed in the state numbers. During the mining boom, Queensland and Western Australia attracted larger numbers of migrants on 457 visas. However this has changed quickly. Western Australia recorded a 27% drop in the number of visas granted in 2015-16 compared to an 11% drop nationally. </p>
<p>The industries that <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-30-06-2016.pdf">stand to be most affected are</a> information technology (the largest sponsor), followed by the <a href="http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/8464D4BB38214E7DCA25711F00146E44?opendocument">professional, scientific and technical services</a>, accommodation and food services. However the top three occupations under 457 visas contributed fewer than 15% of all visa grants in 2015-16. </p>
<p>Many people on 457 visas end up gaining a permanent visa, often also sponsored by their employer. In 2015-16, a total of 51,110 people on a 457 visa were granted a permanent visa. </p>
<p>It is unclear what the 457 changes will mean for the transition from temporary to permanent residency although existing visa holders will be grandfathered under the old system, providing a level of certainty at least in the short-term. </p>
<p>Yet the total population of 457 visa holders was already slowly reducing due to the softer labour market. </p>
<p><iframe id="VfPCm" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/VfPCm/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A training fund may not go far enough to address shortages</h2>
<p><strong>Chris F. Wright, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney</strong></p>
<p>The government’s decision to establish a training fund as part of the replacement package for 457 visas is welcome given unemployment and underemployment is <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022185616634716">relatively high especially among younger workers</a>. The Turnbull government clearly needs to do more to encourage employers to use domestic policy mechanisms – such as structured training and active labour market policy – to increase the supply of skilled labour rather than just looking abroad. </p>
<p>However, more extensive changes to education and training policy are required. Over the past quarter-century there has been a wholesale change in how employers address their skills needs. </p>
<p>There has been a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Wright11/publication/309739215_Australia's_shifting_skills_ecosystem_Contemporary_challenges_in_education_training_and_immigration/links/58214ac008aeccc08af69f8e.pdf">significant decline in employer investment in training and developing their workforce</a>. This is partly a consequence of the deregulation of the employee training system by the Keating and Howard governments that led to an erosion of structured training and to a decline in the quality of training. </p>
<p>As a consequence, employers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Wright11/publication/275652498_An_analysis_of_employers%27_use_of_temporary_skilled_visas_in_Australia/links/5542e2cc0cf24107d3948c00/An-analysis-of-employers-use-of-temporary-skilled-visas-in-Australia.pdf">became more inclined to engage ready-trained skilled migrants</a> as a consequence. My research with Dr Andreea Constantin showed employers who use the 457 visa were more than twice as likely to address skilled job vacancies by recruiting workers from abroad as they are to train their existing employees. </p>
<p>These problems have <a href="http://www.flinders.edu.au/sabs/nils/research/projects/skills-shortages-prevalence-causes-remedies-and-consequences-for-australian-businesses.cfm">also been highlighted by other studies</a> and are unlikely to be resolved without greater coordination and investment by employers and government.</p>
<p>It’s unrealistic to expect that any local worker can be trained to be completely adequate for meeting employers’ skills needs. As the Roach Review argued when it first recommended the introduction of the 457 visa in 1995: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A country of Australia’s size cannot expect to be completely self-sufficient at the leading edge of all skills in the area of key business personnel. When world trade in services is based on different countries developing specialised skills in different areas, it is not realistic for Australia to attempt to develop specialised skills in all areas. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Skilled migration therefore needs to continue as a central part of any policy solution for addressing Australia’s skills needs.</p>
<h2>This type of labour market testing doesn’t work</h2>
<p><strong>Joanna Howe, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide</strong></p>
<p>A deficiency with these changes is that it fails to address a core problem in the regulation of the 457 visa. The two new visa streams will still rely on employer-conducted labour market testing to ascertain which jobs will be available to temporary migrant workers.</p>
<p>Although the occupational shortage list for the two new visa streams is being cut down by one third from over 600 occupations to just shy of 400, employers will still be required to provide evidence to the Department of Immigration of failed recruitment efforts. The problem with this is that it penalises decent employers by increasing the red tape on them. </p>
<p>They will need to complete more paperwork in order to access temporary migrant workers, to meet skill shortages in their workplace. But, at the same time, it does very little to stop unscrupulous employers from exploiting the two new visas to replace local workers with foreign workers. This is because employer-conducted labour market testing is easy to evade and difficult for the Department of Immigration to properly monitor. </p>
<p>Given that there will be upward of 90,000 applicants for the two new visas, it will be extremely challenging and cumbersome for the Department of Immigration to properly ascertain that the jobs for which these visa holders are applying have been first advertised in a genuine and proper manner to the local workforce. </p>
<p>Employer-conducted labour market testing <a href="https://www.oecd.org/migration/mig/43176823.pdf">has been discredited by the OECD</a> and the <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/reviews-and-inquiries/streamlined-responsive-457-programme.pdf">government’s own independent inquiry into the 457 visa</a> in 2014 which recommended its abolition. A far better approach is independent labour market testing which is used in the UK, Austria and other countries to ascertain which occupations should be eligible for temporary skilled migration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76321/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris F. Wright has in the past received funding from the Australian, UK and Dutch governments, the International Labour Organization, and various industry bodies and trade union organisations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Sherrell works for the Australian National University. I am an Associate of the Centre for Policy Development, and a member of the Australian Labor Party. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Howe receives funding from Australian Research Council and from Vegetables WA.</span></em></p>The Turnbull government is axing the 457 visa program and replacing it with a new Temporary Skill Shortage Visa but it might not have the desired affect on the labour market.Chris F. Wright, Senior Lecturer, University of SydneyHenry Sherrell, Research Officer, Labour Mobility and Migration, Development Policy Centre, Australian National UniversityJoanna Howe, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/689702016-11-17T06:39:09Z2016-11-17T06:39:09ZThe real issues with the 457 visa aren’t being addressed<p>Australia’s 457 visa system is back in the news again. If you believe Labor, the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/capital-circle/bill-shortens-stance-on-foreign-workers-breathtaking-hypocrisy-pm/news-story/d7d9632d9f013666430199f995b5318d">457 visa is a rort</a> allowing foreign workers to steal Australian jobs. The government, on the other hand, <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/labor-using-foreign-workers-as-a-proxy-punching-bag-business-20161113-gsobhd">defends it</a> as a way for Australia to meet skills gaps in the economy.</p>
<h2>Misunderstanding the problem is leading to wrong solutions</h2>
<p>Failure to understand the problems with the current system is leading to bad policy. Minister Dutton <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/turnbull-government-makes-changes-to-457-visas-for-skilled-foreign-workers/news-story/fe2805b1e20d32a078cdc403447f4021">announced changes to the 457 visa this week</a> - reducing the time a 457 visa holder can remain in Australia after ceasing employment, from 90 days to 60 days.</p>
<p>This is completely the wrong reform – it simultaneously increases the vulnerability of the 457 visa holder and the power of the employer. If the Coalition is serious about increasing job opportunities for local workers they will redesign the 457 visa properly to ensure it meets genuine skill shortages.</p>
<p>If a 457 visa holder comes in to fill a genuine skills gap and they either get dismissed or voluntarily lose their job, then it’s not a problem to have them looking for 90 days for a new job in that occupation where there is a genuine skills need in Australia.</p>
<p>As it is, 457 visa holders have such little job security. Dutton’s reform will only make them far more vulnerable to an exploitative employer.</p>
<h2>We know what’s wrong with the 457 visa</h2>
<p>National prosperity rises as a result of skilled labour migration, including through the 457 visa program. Numerous studies have shown this, most recently a <a href="http://www.ceda.com.au/research-and-policy/research/2016/11/migration-challenges">report on migration released this month</a> by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. </p>
<p>But when we drill down into how the 457 visa works in practice, Labor does have a point when it claims that local workers are missing out on job opportunities. At present there is no proper mechanism for ensuring there is a skill shortage for the jobs in which employers are using 457 visas. This means employers can use 457 visas in areas where Australians are ready and able to be employed.</p>
<p>The mechanism for identifying who can apply for these visas is the <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists/CSOL">Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List</a>. This is a list that has no requirement that the occupation be in demand in the Australian labour market. It includes more than 600 occupations, most of which are not in shortage. So long as an employer nominates an overseas worker to perform a job on this list, then the occupation is deemed to be in need. </p>
<p>Nursing, teaching, engineering and law are all on this list, and are also occupations where Australian graduates are struggling to enter the labour market.</p>
<p>This means the 457 visa can be used by employers who wish to access foreign labour for an ulterior motive. While most decent employers will not do this, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2011.610338?journalCode=rijh20">research shows</a> there is a core group of employers that prefer temporary migrant workers because they are more compliant, work harder and are less likely to complain or be unionised.</p>
<p>This week industry groups and the federal government have pointed to an <a href="http://www.border.gov.au/Lega/Lega/Form/Immi-FAQs/what-is-labour-market-testing-for-subclass-457">employer-conducted labour market testing requirement</a> to show that employers have to prove job vacancies cannot be filled by Australian workers. This requirement was introduced in 2013 in the dying days of the Rudd government but was implemented by the subsequent Coalition government. </p>
<p>But all an employer has to do to prove they have tested the labour market is to put an advertisement on social media (Facebook will suffice) and if no-one answers it, they can use the 457 visa to access foreign workers. The advertising does not need to be paid and there are no proper checks and balances to ensure that employer-conducted labour market testing is properly occurring.</p>
<h2>The answer is a more independent system</h2>
<p>The Coalition government’s own expert inquiry into the 457 visa in 2014 <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/reviews-and-inquiries/streamlined-responsive-457-programme.pdf">produced a report</a> which recommended the abolition of the current approach and its replacement with a new independent labour market testing model. This report, led by John Azarius, confirmed that this testing needs to be done independently of employers, drawing on international best practice and evidence from the OECD. </p>
<p>To achieve independent labour market testing, occupations should be compiled by an independent agency to ensure the list is regularly updated and reflects the changing skills profile of the economy. The occupational shortage list should account for regional nuances in labour supply. After all, an occupation which is in shortage in regional NSW may not be in shortage in Sydney city. </p>
<p>If an occupation is not on this list an employer should have to make the case that a shortage exists and conduct a genuine attempt at labour market testing before accessing a 457 visa worker.</p>
<h2>Our immigration system needs the right reform</h2>
<p>Our labour migration system is broken. Not only does the 457 visa have no proper mechanism to identify and target genuine skill shortages, but the international student visa and the backpacker visa amount to a backdoor guestworker program for low-skilled jobs. Many workers on these visas are being grossly exploited, as a litany of media exposés have shown, including <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2016/fruit-picking-investigation/">this week’s investigation of migrant fruit pickers</a>.</p>
<p>But the conversation needs to be respectful and responsible – it should be about protecting Australian access to job opportunities and protecting foreign workers from rampant exploitation. This is a problem of the government’s own making and the fault lies squarely at its door for the shambolic way it manages temporary labour migration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Howe receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Fair Work Ombudsman and Horticulture Innovation Australia.</span></em></p>The way we classify skills shortages is broken.Joanna Howe, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/689132016-11-16T03:24:22Z2016-11-16T03:24:22ZBusiness Briefing: breaking down the 457 visa myths<p>Peter McDonald, a professor of demography at the University of Melbourne, says a 457 visa worker is more likely to take the job of a young academic than that of a blue collar worker.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/a_fairer_temporary_work_visa_system_fact_sheet">Labor</a> and <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/malcolm-turnbull-tightens-screws-on-foreign-workers-too-20161115-gsq774">the Coalition government</a> are suggesting changes to the 457 visa workers scheme to ensure these workers aren’t taking jobs that would otherwise be filled by Australians. </p>
<p>However Labor’s plan is misguided because the majority of 457 visa holders are skilled workers who are more specialised and experienced compared with those who are unemployed in Australia, McDonald says.</p>
<p>In fact, often if 457 visa workers weren’t employed, these jobs wouldn’t exist in the first place, he says. This is because employers specifically need the skills of these workers and, in general, these workers create jobs in Australia.</p>
<p>McDonald says there is a case for targeting the scheme so that 457 visa workers take certain jobs in the workforce and in certain locations, where there is demand. However, he says most of the recommendations from <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/temporary_work_visa">an earlier inquiry to improve 457 visa workers</a> program have not been implemented by the government yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Policies targeting the 457 visa workers scheme aren't going to improve the employment prospects for low skilled workers and Australia's unemployed, an expert says.Jenni Henderson, Section Editor: Business + EconomyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/664962016-10-07T01:55:12Z2016-10-07T01:55:12ZProtecting migrant workers requires a rethink on employer freedoms<p>Detail on the federal government’s long-awaited <a href="https://ministers.employment.gov.au/cash/coalition-delivers-election-commitment-protect-migrant-workers">Migrant Workers Taskforce</a> has barely made a splash this week. This is surprising given last year’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/7-eleven-20033">7-Eleven firestorm</a> exposing the widespread exploitation and coercion of international students employed in 7-Eleven franchises.</p>
<p>The new taskforce, to be headed up by Allan Fels and David Cousins (who came to prominence in this space as chairs of the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-11/7eleven-underpaid-workers-alan-fels/7405968">now infamous 7-Eleven wages panel</a>) brings together a vast array of different government departments and agencies. Its brief is to identify and address the systemic causes of migrant worker exploitation and provide a vehicle for inter-agency collaboration. It’s a big mandate for a taskforce which is only set to meet four times a year.</p>
<p>The mission which now confronts Employment Minister Michaelia Cash and her taskforce is to redesign Australia’s rather chaotic and unfair temporary labour migration program. To do this they will need to address the underlying causes of temporary migrant worker vulnerability in the Australian labour market. This will necessarily involve curtailing some of the freedoms currently enjoyed by employers who engage temporary migrant workers.</p>
<p>The establishment of the taskforce shows the government recognises the inherent vulnerability of temporary migrant workers. In the UK, post Brexit, the Conservative government appears to be going backwards on this issue by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/05/government-faces-backlash-from-business-leaders-over-foreign-workers">demonising temporary migrant workers</a> and increasing government controls on them.</p>
<p>Cash is to be commended for being the first Minister for Employment to recognise the particular disadvantage faced by temporary migrant workers. Although such workers are entitled to the protections contained in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which applies to all workers in Australia, Cash appears to understand that temporary migrant workers find it difficult to access legal remedies and exercise their workplace rights under Australian law. This is a fact that has been well established in the <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2649296">academic literature</a>, both here and abroad. </p>
<p>An essential starting point for the taskforce is to acknowledge the precarious position of migrant workers at work – their temporariness, their dependence on employers for essential income (including to send home), their need for ongoing sponsorship (in the case of 457 visa holders) and the desire of many for permanent residency.</p>
<p>It’s vital that the taskforce is able to affect real policy change, rather than being just another voice identifying temporary migrant worker vulnerability. This is a space which is becoming increasingly crowded and it’s difficult to know where the taskforce fits in. Since 2014 Cash has created a reconstituted Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration, Operation Cardena, a Ministerial Working Group on Vulnerable Visa workers and a new Fair Work Ombudsman Migrant Worker Strategy and Engagement Division. Despite the addition of these new voices, there has been very little change to the regulations governing temporary migrant work.</p>
<p>Additionally, in the past four years there have been eight separate official reviews of Australia’s temporary labour migration program. In the main, these reviews have made important recommendations for how the regulation of temporary migrant work could be improved. Although the government has implemented some of these recommendations, many of the more challenging ones (for example, recommendations around the introduction of independent labour market testing and greater regulation of labour hire use) have been conveniently bypassed.</p>
<p>The primary question facing Minister Cash and her taskforce is whether they are prepared to challenge the primacy of employers in the current regulatory design of Australia’s temporary labour migration program. </p>
<p>Although it is critical that employer interests are met through the labour migration program, it is equally important that the use of temporary labour migration meets Australia’s national interest and is fair to temporary migrant workers. In our new book, <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/temporary-labour-migration-in-the-global-era-9781509906291/">Rosemary Owens and I argue</a> there needs to more nuanced and stronger enforcement and greater regulatory control and supervision of Australia’s temporary migration program. </p>
<p>The primary focus of the temporary migrant program cannot be on the efficacy of the visa process and the reduction of regulatory burdens on business. It is critical that genuine efforts are made to ensure that the design of visas for temporary migrant work doesn’t open the door to exploitative work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Joanna Howe receives research funding for projects examining temporary labour migration from the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Australian Research Council and Horticulture Innovation Australia.</span></em></p>The taskforce must redesign Australia’s rather chaotic and unfair temporary labour migration program.Joanna Howe, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/629612016-07-27T04:18:52Z2016-07-27T04:18:52ZWhy we’re making no progress tackling the exploitation of migrant workers<p>On Tuesday night, <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/tvepisode/fair-work-fair-pay">SBS’ Insight program</a> aired concerns about temporary migrant labour exploitation. These issues tend to come to national attention when a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/7-eleven">particular case is exposed</a>, but mostly they are not seen as national priorities – and, as such, the response is generally reactive rather than proactive.</p>
<p>The exploitation to have attracted attention most recently often involves student-visa holders, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2015/05/04/4227055.htm">working-holiday-visa holders</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/evidence-of-employers-misusing-457-visas-shows-need-for-reform-41443">457-visa holders</a>.</p>
<p>Just a little under ten years ago, many of these situations would more immediately have been framed as issues of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-15/costello---labour-trafficking2c-not-sex-trafficking-needs-more/2758200">labour trafficking</a>. But, since then, there has been a shift away from identifying and responding to these cases as potential slavery or trafficking offences, and instead focusing on labour exploitation as an issue for the Fair Work Ombudsman to review and/or redress. </p>
<h2>The problems with purely pursuing employers</h2>
<p>The current focus in tackling temporary migrant labour exploitation is workplace breaches. This involves the pursuit of employers who have paid below the minimum rate or breached working conditions in other ways to achieve outcomes such as financial reparation for employees and, potentially, to fine employers.</p>
<p>There are a number of concerns to be raised here.</p>
<p>First, while it <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/temporary_work_visa/Report">has been recommended</a> that the Fair Work Ombudsman has no responsibility to report on migration status to the Department of Immigration, for many workers their migration status is a significant concern and obstacle to reporting exploitative conditions. </p>
<p>Such conditions and fears include non-payment, significant wage deduction, being forced to work in breach of visa conditions and experiencing a range of threats, intimidation and/or abuse. An example is student-visa holders being required to work for more hours than they are entitled with the threat of being fired if they don’t complete the hours. </p>
<p>And the threat of being reported to the department, even for those whose work status is legal, has been identified as a significant obstacle to reporting employer exploitation. There is a concern that migration status, particularly for those who are working in breach of visa conditions, is an obstacle to making contact or working with the Fair Work Ombudsman.</p>
<p>The fear of deportation and/or the inability to find alternative employment is significant. This is the case for many reasons, including but not limited to the shame of returning home, fear of retribution from the employer, or the significant debts incurred to get to Australia. </p>
<p>We need to understand the vulnerabilities of workers who have been exploited, and to create a system that supports workers – regardless of their migration status. The current response is not focused on preventing exploitation but responding to it, and is not well-designed to respond to the complex issues that impact workers coming forward in the first instance. </p>
<p>The second concern is the distinction between cases referred to the Fair Work Ombudsman and cases referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for criminal investigation, and why there is no overlap.</p>
<p>The AFP currently has no process for referring a case they are dealing with to the Fair Work Ombudsman to enable the pursuit of remuneration and/or compensation. Similarly, there is no formal process for referring cases to the AFP. It is unclear why this is not happening.</p>
<p>In the course of my research involving interviews with stakeholders, authorities and migrant workers, it has been made clear that some of the cases related to the 7-Eleven scandal have included situations where individuals had passports confiscated, were forced to work in breach of student visa conditions and were living in accommodation controlled by their employer.</p>
<p>It seems none of the 7-Eleven cases raised so far have been investigated by the AFP as possible offences under the slavery or slavery-like practices legislation. Yet the cases that have come to light have clear and direct overlap with the relevant Criminal Code.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131905/original/image-20160726-24908-1hm8309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">None of the cases arising out of the 7-Eleven scandal have been reported or discussed with the AFP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">fridy/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s trafficking, too</h2>
<p>Human trafficking is tackled as an issue of criminal exploitation. This requires AFP involvement to determine whether there is a <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A04868">potential criminal offence</a> and the transfer onto the government-funded, <a href="http://www.redcross.org.au/support-for-trafficked-people.aspx">Red Cross-provided Support for Trafficking People</a> package (if required/desired by the victim/witness). This process is solely focused on criminal matters as an outcome, in addition to welfare and support provisions for victims.</p>
<p>There is no automatic or supported process to enable access to remuneration or compensation. All civil matters are outside of this process. </p>
<p>Civil compensation in trafficking cases <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/sex-slave-victim-wins-abuse-claim/2007/05/28/1180205160434.html">has been sought</a>. But it is clear this process is piecemeal and pursued purely on a case-by-case basis.</p>
<p>Australia has pursued <a href="https://www.cdpp.gov.au/case-reports/filter?field_category_tid=15">very few trafficking-related charges</a>. This creates a vacuum of legal precedence in the area of human trafficking, reproducing a false notion that Australia remains a nation where such practices are relatively uncommon. </p>
<p>The absence of transparency regarding the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions decisions not to pursue trafficking cases referred to it via the AFP, other than to note the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/australias-human-trafficking-crisis-forced-marriage-labour-exploitation-are-rising/news-story/9e9fae0181034b65860bd3b03d8c7455">limitations of the evidence</a>, creates a significant obstacle to understanding how best we can pursue prosecutions under these laws. </p>
<p>There is an opportunity to review how we respond across all forms of temporary migrant labour exploitation – regardless of the victim’s migration status – to ensure both criminal charges and civil and administrative remedies are pursued. </p>
<p>This will allow us to better understand the breadth of exploitation that is occurring in the dark places across many industries, and to better redress the conditions that create and sustain exploitative practices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Segrave is an ARC DECRA Research Fellow (Unlawful temporary migration labour: regulation, exploitation and vulnerability, 2014-2018). Marie leads the Trafficking and Labour Exploitation research agenda at the Border Observatory (<a href="http://www.borderobservatory.org">www.borderobservatory.org</a>)</span></em></p>The primary focus in tackling temporary migrant labour exploitation is workplace breaches. But should it be?Marie Segrave, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/602412016-06-03T00:01:35Z2016-06-03T00:01:35ZElection FactCheck Q&A: was Jacqui Lambie right about apprenticeships and 457 visas?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124740/original/image-20160601-1964-1o7hic8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jacqui Lambie said on Q&A that apprenticeship numbers were going 'wayside'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tZiYD3BW8XM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&A, May 30, 2016.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>Because I can tell you what, right now our apprenticeships they’re going wayside and that’s another issue we have. We don’t have jobs and we don’t have jobs being presented to this country. We have over a million 457s out there and that’s another reason why we don’t have jobs here. – Tasmanian Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4449977.htm">speaking</a> on Q&A May 30, 2016</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Apprenticeships and jobs are back in the news as the election campaign reaches its halfway mark.</p>
<p>Independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie told Q&A that apprenticeships were “wayside” – which I interpret as meaning “falling” or “in decline”, given the common phrase “<a href="http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fall+by+the+wayside">falling by the wayside</a>”. (Watch from 1:42 in the clip above to see Senator Lambie’s statement.)</p>
<p>She also said one of the reasons jobs are scarce is because Australia has “over a million 457s out there”. </p>
<p>So are those two claims right?</p>
<h1>Checking the sources</h1>
<p>The Conversation asked a spokesperson for Senator Lambie for sources to support her assertions. The apprenticeship statement was not addressed in his reply, but there was a detailed response on the question of visas – so we’ll examine that issue first.</p>
<p>The spokesman cited the latest quarterly report available on the <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/about/reports-publications/research-statistics/statistics/live-in-australia/temporary-entrants-in-australia">Department of Immigration and Border Protection website</a>: <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/temp-entrants-newzealand-dec31.pdf">Temporary Entrants and New Zealand Citizens in Australia as at 31 December 2015</a>. He pointed to figures on page 3 of the report, shown below, and said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’ve received information from the Parliamentary Library that all Temporary visa entrants listed on page 3 are able to work at least a minimum of 20 hrs per week.</p>
<p>This includes Visitor Visa Holders, Student Visa Holders, Temporary Skilled, Working Holiday Maker, Bridging, Other Temporary Visa Holders and Temporary Graduates.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124800/original/image-20160601-1425-ekbifb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/temp-entrants-newzealand-dec31.pdf">Temporary Entrants and New Zealand Citizens report as at 31 December 2015, Department of Immigration and Border Protection, page 3</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The spokesman added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Senator Lambie used the term 457 Visa in its broadest or commonly known term – which included Overseas visitors or Temporary Entrants who are awarded primary 457 work visas and all other sub categories of 457 visas – which of course allow any Overseas visitor or Temporary Entrant to work in Australia.</p>
<p>Including Overseas Visitors from New Zealand (634,560) all of the 1,986,420 Temporary entrants listed (assuming they are of the correct or legal work age) – are able to legally work in Australia.</p>
<p>So by these figures it is correct to say that in Australia today, there are over one million Overseas Visitors or Temporary Visa Entrants – who are working – and therefore this fact adds to the reasons why Australians are unable to find employment.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>“Over a million” 457 visa holders?</h2>
<p>The Department of Immigration and Border Protection issues regular statistics on the number of temporary residents in Australia, including 457 visa holders. </p>
<p>The 457 visa allows someone sponsored by an employer a temporary right to live and work in Australia. The visa applies to skilled workers whose skills or qualifications enable them to work in an occupation on the <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists/CSOL">Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List</a> issued by the federal government.</p>
<p>In addition to the annual statistics, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection releases quarterly data. The most recent figures available from the government in its <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-2016-03-31.pdf">Subclass 457 quarterly report</a> show that as of March 31, 2016, there were 97,766 people on primary 457 visas in Australia.</p>
<p>This is 9.2% lower than the number of primary 457 visa holders in Australia 12 months earlier (see page 7 of <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-2016-03-31.pdf">the report</a>).</p>
<p>Most 457 visa applications granted in the 12 months to March 31, 2016, were for professional occupations (55.4%). Less than a quarter (23.1%) were for technicians and trades workers, where training is traditionally through apprenticeship.</p>
<p>There were also 79,624 secondary 457 visa holders as at March 31, 2016. These include the partners, children and other dependent relatives of primary 457 visa holders and they also have work rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124809/original/image-20160601-1964-1nkt8tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-2016-03-31.pdf">Subclass 457 quarterly report quarter ending at 31 March, 2016, Department of Immigration and Border Protection, page 15</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So Senator Lambie’s statement that there are over a million 457 visa holders in Australia is incorrect. The figure is closer to a rounded up 98,000 people (or about 177,000 if secondary visa holders – not all of whom are working – are included).</p>
<p>There are, however, other categories of temporary residents eligible to work in Australia. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/working-holiday-report-dec15.pdf">Working holiday</a> 417 visa holders: There were 155,183 working holiday maker visa holders (both 417 and 462 visas) in Australia as at December 31, 2015.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/student-visa-2015-16-to-2015-12-31.pdf">International student visa holders</a>: There were 328,151 student visa holders (including 570, 571, 572, 573, 574 subclasses) in Australia as at December 31, 2015. These people may only work up to 20 hours per week. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/temp-entrants-newzealand-dec31.pdf">Temporary Graduate visa holders</a> (subclass 485): To be eligible for this visa, a person needs to have been an international student resident in Australia for at least two years. There were 23,870 in Australia as at December 31, 2015. </li>
</ul>
<p>Other visa categories referred to by Senator Lambie’s office either do not allow visa holders to work (such as visitor visas) or only allow visa holders to work under certain circumstances or if certain conditions are met (such as bridging visas).</p>
<p>These figures also do not include New Zealand citizens or categories of permanent skilled migration or other categories of permanent migration (such as family reunion and humanitarian).</p>
<p>Technically, New Zealand citizens living in Australia hold a temporary visa: it is referred to as a Special Category Visa (SCV). But with very few exceptions, all New Zealand citizens have an automatic right to live and work in Australia, under the terms of the 1973 Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. As at December 31, 2015, there were <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/temp-entrants-newzealand-dec31.pdf">634,560 New Zealand subclass 444 visa holders</a>.</p>
<p>So if you add all of the primary 457 visa holders (97,766 people) together with their relatives with secondary 457 visas (79,624), as well as working holiday visa holders (155,183), international student (328,151) and temporary graduate (23,870) visa holders together, the total number (684,594) is still considerably less than a million. </p>
<h2>Are apprentice numbers in decline?</h2>
<p>Senator Lambie also raised concerns about apprenticeship numbers.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ncver.edu.au">National Centre for Vocational Education Research</a> (NCVER) produces quarterly reports on Australian apprentices. It estimates the number of apprentices currently in training using administrative data on the number of commencements, completions, cancellations and withdrawals. </p>
<p>Technically, an apprenticeship is a contract of employment combined with a contract of training, leading to a nationally recognised qualification. </p>
<p>This includes apprenticeships in traditional trades such as construction, electrical and engineering. It also covers traineeships in service industries such as retail and hospitality, which are generally shorter than traditional apprenticeships.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.ncver.edu.au/wps/portal/vetdataportal/restricted/publicationContent/!ut/p/a1/lVFNU8IwEP01HDvZtE3SHlHEtMqHLQw0FyaGVqo0FIiM-usNHb04Q4t725m3b98HEmiJhJan8kWacqfl9rwLuoqwe8u5D_GEcwoRG86SlM89wNQCMguAC9OH5n7K76l7Y-8DPgKIxmkyHN2lHkwYWiCBhNKmNhuUaXXKD6vjRh7ydQ_q9-dtqRolxx64AWFnbK3KNcryoGA-pdjBBBeODzJwwlCFDiWSFpgR5kP4o63leYe3RlsbA_0LgPBpYDncccwfpxgeSAcD_DK0BJhZF-yiTE5Q-s9Y4is6LV_3e9G3zey0yT8MWnZWU1fzKvA-nbeEf82KavEN-fUTxg!!/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/">NCVER’s most recent report</a>, which covers the September 2015 quarter, there were 295,300 apprentices in training. Of those, 181,700 were in trade occupations and 113,600 were in non-trade occupations. </p>
<p>The number of apprentices in training has declined for the eighth successive quarter, as shown in the chart below.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124734/original/image-20160601-1425-e54bs3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Number of apprentices in training (‘000s), September 2010 - September 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NCVER, Apprentice and Trainee Collection, September 2015 quarter</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The data show that between September 2010 and September 2015:</p>
<ul>
<li>The decline has affected both trade apprentices and non-trade apprentices, but the decline has been steeper among non-trade occupations. </li>
<li>The number of apprentices in training in September 2015 was one-third lower than it was in the same quarter five years earlier. </li>
<li>Apprentices in non-trade occupations have declined by half (51.4%).</li>
<li>There was a more modest decline among trade occupations (13.6%). Over the same period, the Australian workforce increased by 6.4%. </li>
</ul>
<p>Apprentice numbers are closely tied to the economic cycle and overall distribution of employment, but previous <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A47754">research</a> shows there may be other reasons.</p>
<p>For example, the steep decline in apprenticeships in non-trade areas in 2012 followed the then Labor government’s decision to withdraw most employer subsidies from apprenticeships in occupations that were not associated with skill shortages.</p>
<p>Post-training employment outcomes are generally much stronger for apprentices in trade occupations than those from non-trade occupations. </p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Jacqui Lambie was correct about apprenticeships going “wayside”, or falling. National Centre for Vocational Education Research figures show declines for both trade and non-trade apprentices.</p>
<p>But her assertion that there are “over a million” 457 visa holders in Australia is wrong. Even counting additional visa types, the number of temporary residents validly working in Australia is still far less than one million. </p>
<p>New Zealand citizens living in Australia are not typically counted as “temporary visa holders” because of the special arrangement between Australia and New Zealand. In any case, not all of the 634,560 New Zealanders will be in the labour force, since the total includes children and retirees. <strong>– Damian Oliver</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This is a sound analysis of Jacqui Lambie’s comments on apprenticeships. The FactCheck author accurately highlights the declining apprenticeship commencement figures, and the broader economic and political factors influencing apprenticeship commencements.</p>
<p>In reviewing available data relevant to the claim regarding 457 visas, the author has given Senator Lambie the benefit of the doubt by taking a broad interpretation of the 457 comment, to include other types of temporary working visas. The author has demonstrated, through a detailed overview of other types of temporary visas granting eligibility to work in Australia, that the claim made by Senator Lambie regarding the number of 457 visas is not accurate. <strong>– Kira Clarke</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damian Oliver is a member of the ALP.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kira Clarke receives funding from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).</span></em></p>Was Jacqui Lambie correct to say apprenticeships are going “wayside” and that there are more than one million 457 work visa holders in Australia?Damian Oliver, Deputy Director (Business Development), Centre for Management and Organisation Studies, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/434702015-06-21T20:19:03Z2015-06-21T20:19:03ZFactCheck: could the China-Australia FTA lock out Australian workers?<blockquote>
<p>“Workers from China can come under temporary work visas just about in any category and will not be subject to labour market testing… Projects worth $150 million or more can actually bring in labour from China with lower level English, with lower skills and they can, in fact, be used to implement those projects… If you can bring an entire workforce in to build that building from another country then you immediately lock out Australian workers.” - <strong>Ged Kearney, President of the ACTU, in an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/not-everyone-pleased-with-china-free-trade/6555144">interview</a> with Fran Kelly on ABC RN Breakfast, Thursday June 18, 2015.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Australian unions have <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/labor-and-unions-raise-concerns-over-china-free-trade-deal/story-fnpebfcn-1227126663740">long</a> <a href="http://www.asu.asn.au/news/categories/international/141212-jobs-go-under-free-trade-agreements">warned</a> that Australian workers could be disadvantaged by the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), which was signed and made publicly <a href="http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/chafta/Pages/australia-china-fta.aspx">available</a> last week. </p>
<p>After reading the sections of the agreement relating to labour mobility and labour market testing, Ged Kearney from the Australian Council of Trade Unions said her fears have not been allayed. She said the deal could “immediately lock out Australian workers” from certain jobs. </p>
<p>Is that right?</p>
<h2>No need to show local skills shortage</h2>
<p>Checking Ms Kearney’s statements against the <a href="http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/chafta/official-documents/Documents/chafta-agreement-text.pdf">text</a> of the agreement, she is correct that Australian workers can be excluded from labour market opportunities through ChAFTA.</p>
<p>When asked for a source to substantiate Ms Kearney’s claim that the ChAFTA will lock out Australian workers, an ACTU spokesperson pointed to Article 10.4, paragraph three of the agreement, which states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In respect of the specific commitments on temporary entry in this Chapter, unless otherwise specified in Annex 10-A, neither Party shall… require labour market testing, economic needs testing or other procedures of similar effect as a condition for temporary entry.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As part of the agreement, China and Australia have signed a <a href="http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/chafta/official-documents/Documents/chafta-mou-on-an-investment-facilitation-arrangement.docx">Memorandum of Understanding</a> (MOU) on the topic of an “Investment Facilitation Arrangement” (IFA). </p>
<p>The IFA allows a project company registered in Australia but with 50% Chinese ownership to bring in Chinese workers for a proposed infrastructure development project. The development must be projected to involve capital expenditure of A$150 million over its term.</p>
<p>There is no requirement under the MOU for labour market testing. This means the project company will not need to prove that they are unable to source Australians to work on the project. There is no requirement to prove that there is a skill shortage or that the project company has had recruitment difficulties in enticing Australian workers. (This is different to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/evidence-of-employers-misusing-457-visas-shows-need-for-reform-41443">457 visa programme</a>, where employers are supposed to show they have tried and failed to find Australian workers for jobs, before hiring skilled foreign workers.)</p>
<h2>Just about any category? Lower skills and levels of English?</h2>
<p>Ms Kearney’s statement that “workers from China can come under temporary work visas just about in any category and will not be subject to labour market testing” is not technically correct, although the breadth of industries permitted under the ChAFTA is extensive. </p>
<p>The MOU allows Chinese workers to be brought into Australia to work on the project, so long as the project is related to infrastructure development within the food and agribusiness; resources and energy; transport; telecommunications; power supply and generation; environment; or tourism sectors.</p>
<p>Ms Kearney’s most alarming allegation is that Chinese workers with lower skills and lower level English will be permitted to work in Australia as part of an IFA. </p>
<p>I assume by this that she is comparing the immigration possibilities opened up by the ChAFTA to Australia’s official pathway for labour immigration, the 457 visa. </p>
<p>The 457 visa is aimed as a highly skilled work visa and is subject to a number of restrictions upon employer-sponsors, in particular: </p>
<ul>
<li>occupations must be listed on the <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/csol.aspx">Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List</a> (CSOL)</li>
<li>employers must show evidence of failed recruitment efforts</li>
<li>visa holders must meet certain English language requirements and </li>
<li>visa holders’ salaries must be above the <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/increase-income-threshold.htm">Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold</a> (TSMIT). The TSMIT is currently set at $53,900. </li>
</ul>
<p>Whilst it is true that Chinese workers will need to be employed in compliance with Australian labour laws, the MOU allows “concessions” to be made with regards to the required standards for the CSOL, English language ability and the TSMIT. </p>
<p>This means that the project company can negotiate via a private contract with the Department of Immigration to import Chinese workers to work on the project in lower skilled occupations.</p>
<p>Similarly, whilst temporary migrant workers under the 457 visa scheme must be paid above the TSMIT and possess a certain level of English-language ability, concessions can be negotiated under the IFA for Chinese project companies. </p>
<p>This means Ms Kearney is correct that the ChAFTA has the potential for Chinese workers to be permitted into Australia with lower level English and lower skills than under the 457 visa programme.</p>
<h2>Broader concerns</h2>
<p>Free trade agreements like the ChAFTA have far-reaching implications and need to be closely scrutinised. Traditionally, countries like Australia have fiercely guarded their borders in order to safeguard national living standards. Although Australia’s temporary migrant worker programme (the 457 visa) has been increasingly liberalised since its inception in 1996, the ChAFTA is a game changer. </p>
<p>It allows Chinese companies registered in Australia to import Chinese workers for the duration of projects, so long as the capital expenditure exceeds $150 million. </p>
<p>Whilst this does increase the level of economic activity in Australia, it does not translate to increased job opportunities for local workers as it is likely that through the IFA, these projects will be staffed by temporary migrant workers from China. </p>
<p>Even more concerning, is the fact that Chinese businesses can negotiate “concessions” with the Department of Immigration and that these will be stipulated as a term of a private contract between the two parties and not be on the public record. This allows the Executive arm of government enormous discretion in the making of these arrangements, with limited opportunity for transparency and public accountability. </p>
<p>Still on the topic of transparency, the ChAFTA has also allowed the Executive arm of government to sign an agreement with a foreign government that goes against the parliament’s wishes in 2013 that Australia’s temporary migrant worker programme include employer-conducted labour market testing. </p>
<p>This requirement, approved of by the Australian parliament, has been circumvented through the ChAFTA as Chinese businesses will not have to prove that there are no local workers available to perform an occupation prior to the hiring of a Chinese worker.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Ms Kearney is correct that Australian workers can be excluded from labour market opportunities through ChAFTA. It is not technically correct to say that “workers from China can come under temporary work visas just about in any category and will not be subject to labour market testing”, although the breadth of industries permitted under the ChAFTA is extensive. Ms Kearney is correct that the ChAFTA has the potential for Chinese workers to be permitted into Australia with lower level English and lower skills than under the 457 visa programme.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This is a sound review that raises some very real concerns. The Investment Facilitation Arrangement could see a project being wholly staffed by Temporary Skilled Chinese migrant workers – and, yes, there is no labour market testing requirement.</p>
<p>As discussed above, this trade allows removal of some of the checks and balances that frame the 457 visa, which themselves are being subject to review.</p>
<p>ChAFTA moreover introduces a radical shift in the institutional context within which the negotiation of employment standards and conditions has traditionally occurred. Under the Investment Facilitation Arrangement, terms and conditions covering occupational classifications and qualifications, experience and language proficiency requirements, as well as remuneration, would be negotiated by the Chinese investor with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and resolved in a Memorandum of Understanding. These could also be subsequently renegotiated. </p>
<p>Such an arrangement introduces a new level of opacity to Australia’s industrial setting. It effectively removes established industrial relations stakeholders – such as workers or their unions – from any involvement in the negotiation of the terms and conditions of employment in Chinese-owned enterprises investing in projects that have a value of $A150 million or more. It is worth noting that there is no timeframe set on the term of the project in the calculation of the expected investment. Nor are there explicit guidelines directing the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is charged with oversight of this benchmark, about what actually is required to meet the investment benchmark.</p>
<p>This arrangement removes agreements on employment terms and conditions from the purview of interested industrial relations stakeholders and the Australian public more generally. – <strong>Stuart Rosewarne</strong></p>
<hr>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Rosewarne receives funding from the ARC. He is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union and a founding member of the Sydney Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>ACTU President Ged Kearney has warned the recently signed China-Australia Free Trade Agreement could lock out Australian workers. Is that true?Joanna Howe, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/414432015-05-08T04:00:01Z2015-05-08T04:00:01ZEvidence of employers misusing 457 visas shows need for reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80923/original/image-20150508-1212-dfxo0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the hospitality sector, employers are 13 times more likely to prefer 457 visa workers than similar Australian workers, data shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/takoyaki_king/8440137668/"> George Alexander Ishida Newman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-06/parliamentary-inquiry-into-labour-hire-industry/6449714">South Australian</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/vic-government-to-begin-inquiry-after-four-corners-report/6444806">Victorian</a> governments have announced inquiries into abuse of migrant workers in the agriculture sector hired on 417 “working holiday” visa, following an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/supermarkets-food-outlets-exploit-black-market-migrant-workers/6441496">expose</a> by ABC TV’s Four Corners this week. </p>
<p>However, our <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=ce2f8c67-65f4-42a3-86fd-a352b3ce07e8&subId=350945">research</a> shows that the problem of employers evading their obligations is not limited to workers on the 417 visa. Some are also misusing the 457 temporary skilled visa.</p>
<p>The 457 visa is supposed to be used in industries suffering a skills shortage to allow employers to hire a skilled migrant worker for up to four years. </p>
<p>But new analysis shows that some employers readily admit they use 457 visa workers even when there is no skills shortage in their industry, suggesting that tougher regulation is needed. </p>
<h2>Why hire a 457 visa worker?</h2>
<p>The temporary skilled 457 visa, introduced in 1996 to address skills shortages, is supposed to allow Australian businesses to recruit workers with specialised qualifications, knowledge and experience.</p>
<p>In fact, our results found 457 visas were seen by many employers as an easy way to fill jobs without boosting pay, working conditions or other aspects of job quality.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=ce2f8c67-65f4-42a3-86fd-a352b3ce07e8&subId=350945">research</a>, presented to the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/temporary_work_visa/Submissions">Senate Education and Employment References Committee’s</a> inquiry into the impact of Australia’s temporary work visa programs, analysed survey responses of 1600 Australian employers conducted in 2012. The data has only recently been made available to academic researchers.</p>
<p>The phone survey was conducted and designed by the <a href="http://www.srcentre.com.au/">Social Research Centre</a> and commissioned by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The survey received a 90.3% response rate.</p>
<p>While the data has been previously used in a report by the <a href="http://www.migrationcouncil.org.au/assets/files/8168a3189.pdf">Migration Council of Australia</a>, our study is the first to use techniques testing for significance and variation in the data. </p>
<p>We sought to answer the crucial question: why do employers recruit workers on 457 visas? This question is important for understanding the impact of immigration on the labour market.</p>
<p>We found that a significant minority of employers are using the scheme to engage workers they saw as harder working or having a “better attitude” (19%) or are more loyal than their Australian counterparts (19%). Of employers surveyed, 10% said that Australian workers do not like doing the job and 6% claimed Australian workers have a poor attitude.</p>
<p>However, we found significant variation in these responses between employers in different industries.</p>
<p>Employer respondents across all industries are three times more likely to be more satisfied with workers on 457 visas than similar Australian workers, but most employers (67%) are equally satisfied with both groups.</p>
<p>The picture is rather different in the hospitality industry, where employers are 13 times more likely to prefer 457 visa workers than similar Australian workers, and only a minority (45%) are equally satisfied with both groups. </p>
<p>The risk is that some employers may develop an inherent preference for 457 visa holders in ways that could inhibit workers’ rights, advantage some employers over others and potentially deny employment opportunities to citizens and permanent residents.</p>
<h2>So-called skills shortages</h2>
<p>The current policy grants visas based on employer claims that they are experiencing skills shortages. But this policy is fundamentally flawed. </p>
<p>While the vast majority (86%) of employers surveyed say they experience challenges recruiting workers locally, this does not equate to a skills shortage. What they’re short of is workers willing to do the work for the wages and conditions currently being offered, which in some cases won’t be high enough to attract more people locally.</p>
<p>Fewer than 1% of employers address skilled vacancies by increasing the salary being offered, which economists generally consider to be necessary for a skills shortage to exist. </p>
<p>At least 14% of employers surveyed said they did not have difficulties recruiting from the local labour market, which begs the question why they were allowed to hire workers on 457 visas in the first place. </p>
<p>The 457 visa has elicited intense political controversy in recent years. Some unions claim that the scheme is taking opportunities for employment away from Australians, while business groups argue the visa is vital for meeting critical skills shortages. </p>
<p>Our research makes it clear that unions and employers are both wrong in this debate. Misuse of the scheme does not appear to be widespread; in fact, many employers (such many in education and health) are largely using the scheme for its intended purpose of addressing skills shortages. </p>
<p>But this is not the case in some industries, especially hospitality, where misuse of the scheme appears to be widespread. For instance, while addressing skills shortages is the visa’s main objective, only 42% of hospitality industry respondents cited “they have filled skilled job vacancies” as a benefit of sponsoring 457 visa holders, compared to 52% of employers across all industries. </p>
<p>By contrast, 41% of hospitality employers cited “increased loyalty from 457 workers” as a benefit of the 457 visa, compared to 19% of all employer respondents. Hospitality employers were also much more likely than average to prioritise interpersonal competencies over specialised qualifications, knowledge and experience when selecting potential skilled migrants.</p>
<p>Our research shows that the 457 visa clearly needs to be fixed. Currently, it is up to employers to determine whether they have a skills shortage that can only be addressed via the visa scheme. That right should be handed to an independent body that can identify skills shortages and rule the occupations for which 457 visas can and cannot be used.</p>
<h2>Migrant workers are needed</h2>
<p>However, the claim by unions that the 457 visa deters employers from training is somewhat misplaced. Australia’s education and training systems suffer from major deficiencies that will take a long time to address and, in any case, will never be completely adequate for meeting our skills needs. Immigration needs to play a role.</p>
<p>Skilled immigration produces substantial benefits for Australia. It delivers economic advantages, opens trade opportunities and helps to address the challenges of population ageing and declining workforce participation. The former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison was right to <a href="https://www.travel-impact-newswire.com/2014/03/australian-minister-lists-full-range-of-measures-to-balance-facilitation-security-interests/">say</a> that skilled immigration is “an integral part of the economic machinery that creates Australian jobs”. </p>
<p>Employers need to focus more on improving job quality and working more closely with the Australian education and training system in addressing skills shortages where they genuinely do exist.</p>
<p>But the practices of employers using the 457 visa need to be regulated more effectively to ensure the scheme meets its stated purpose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The funding for Chris F. Wright and Andreea Constantin's research on migrant workers is provided under the University of Sydney Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Scheme (Project ID G162129). Chris F Wright has received external funding from the Australian Department of Industry, the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the McKell Institute for projects unrelated to this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreea Constantin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New analysis shows that some employers readily admit they use 457 visa workers even when there is no skills shortage in their sector, suggesting that tougher regulation is needed.Chris F. Wright, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of SydneyAndreea Constantin, Research Assistant, Work and Organisational Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/374542015-02-13T02:42:10Z2015-02-13T02:42:10ZSpeaking with: Shanthi Robertson on the changing face of migration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71921/original/image-20150213-13211-15sxyuo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia has changed from primarily being a destination for permanent settlers to having an increasing number of temporary arrivals.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Beiske/Flickr (modified)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immigration is a contentious topic in many parts of the world, and the debate in Australia has been predictably framed around asylum seekers, the burdens on taxpayers and the protection of local jobs. This narrow focus has meant migrants are often divided into categories of “good” and “bad”.</p>
<p>The reality is a lot more complex and nuanced. For much of Australia’s history, most migrants were permanent settlers. Now, increasing numbers of temporary visitors – students, working holiday makers and temporary workers – are arriving. The shift in the nature of migration and the make-up of migrants has had significant flow-on effects on the economy and society which are often forgotten.</p>
<p>Dallas Rogers speaks with Shanthi Robertson about the changing face of migration in Australia and the complex relationships between governments, migrants and commercial industries throughout the migration process.</p>
<hr>
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<p>Music: Free Music Archive/<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Liquor_Files/">Blue Dot Sessions: Liquor Files</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dallas Rogers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Immigration is a contentious topic in many parts of the world, and the debate in Australia has been predictably framed around asylum seekers, the burdens on taxpayers and the protection of local jobs…Dallas Rogers, Urban Studies Lecturer, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/329552014-10-14T05:48:02Z2014-10-14T05:48:02ZCompetitiveness agenda lays path for industry-led innovation: experts react<p>The federal government has released its <a href="http://industry.gov.au/industry/Pages/Industry-Growth-Centres.aspx#content">National Industry Investment and Competitiveness Agenda</a>, committing around A$400 million towards “industry growth centres”, new tax incentives for employee share schemes, and a push for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education.</p>
<p>The government has chosen to focus on five sectors for its growth centres: oil and gas, mining technology, medical technology and pharmaceuticals, food and agribusiness and advanced manufacturing, where it says Australia has a “natural advantage” it can build on.</p>
<p>Each of the five industry-led centres will receive funding of up to A$3.5 million per year, and be required to establish a plan to become self-sustaining after four years. Grants of up to A$1 million will also be on offer for the commercialisation of ideas.</p>
<p>The government said it would also reform the tax treatment of employee share schemes to support start-up companies, beginning with reversing the changes made in 2009 to the taxing point for options. There will also be new concessional tax treatment of options or shares issued by unlisted start-ups with turnover of $50 million or less.</p>
<p>The 457 visa program will also be reformed, with the process of sponsorship, nomination and visa applications for “low risk” applicants streamlined, English language requirements made more flexible, and the sponsorship approval period increased from 12 to 18 months for start-up businesses.</p>
<p>As part of its ongoing deregulatory agenda, the government will adopt a new principle that if a system, service or product has been approved under a trusted international standard or risk assessment, then Australian regulators would not impose any additional requirements for approval.</p>
<p>The government will also introduce a new “Premium Investor Visa” offering a faster 12 month pathway to permanent residency, for those meeting a A$15 million investment threshold.</p>
<p>A symbolic A$12 million of funding will be provided for programs designed to improve the focus on STEM subjects in primary and secondary schools. </p>
<p>The government will also establish a “Commonwealth Science Council”, chaired by the prime minister, to advise the government on areas of national strength, current and future capability and on ways to improve connections between government, research organisations, universities and business.</p>
<p>The government will host a series of roundtable sessions in coming months to consult with business and the research sector on the policy.</p>
<p>A panel of experts responds below.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Joanna Howe, Lecturer in Law at University of Adelaide</strong></p>
<p>Today’s announcement by the government of a number of changes to the subclass 457 visa program represents a missed opportunity to properly reform Australia’s approach to temporary skilled migration. There is genuine public concern that temporary migrant workers are being used in areas where no skill shortage exists, thereby displacing job opportunities for Australian workers. This point was recognised by the recent independent review into the subclass 457 visa program, with the final report identifying that two core questions of the program, namely “proving that the position cannot be filled by a local worker and determining the skilled occupations that are used for the programme” are “not well served by the current policy approaches and can be improved by adopting a more robust evidence- based approach”. Yet, the government has sidestepped both these issues in the reform package announced today and ignored the report’s recommendations for a ministerial advisory council to provide expert advice on the composition of the occupational shortage list used by employers to access temporary migrant labour.</p>
<p>The decision to streamline the application process for low risk applicants is a positive one, as is the proposal to increase the sponsorship approval period for start up companies. Yet, ironically, a reform that would offer far more efficiency gains and was recommended by the independent review, but has not been adopted by the government, is the abolition of employer-conducted labour market testing. This would greatly aid employers and the Department of Immigration but the government seems unwilling to tackle this reform because it would be difficult to get through the Senate. Yet, the weight of scholarly evidence and indeed, the OECD’s recommendations on this point, suggest that independent labour market testing is a far better alternative.</p>
<p>A concerning development is the government’s proposal to weaken the English language requirement. This is currently a minimum of five across the four competencies (reading, writing, speaking and listening). The main function of the English language proficiency requirement is to ensure a 457 visa holder will not be exploited. If temporary migrant workers have lesser language skills, this could leave them <a href="https://theconversation.com/457-visa-reformers-should-remember-our-shady-skilled-migration-history-27717">vulnerable to potential health and safety risks</a> in the workplace. </p>
<p>Another concerning reform is the proposal to freeze the Temporary Skill Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) at its current level and to review the role of the TSMIT in two year’s time. Like a strong English language requirement, the TSMIT has a key role in protecting the integrity of the program overall. It was introduced following the Deegan Review into the 457 visa to act as a salary floor ensuring a visa holder’s wage was sufficient to maintain a reasonable standard of living given the lack of access to welfare and tax benefits available to local workers.</p>
<hr>
<p>*<em>Ian Maxwell, Adjunct Professor at RMIT
*</em></p>
<p>The concept of promoting STEM skills in schools addresses the continuing slide in the quality of high school graduates in these areas – as I have heard anecdotally from friends that teach these subjects at university. In fact, in Australia we have far too many university graduates in science and engineering and the result is that (a) there is downwards pressure on graduate salaries (further reducing the quality of people entering these degrees) and (b) there is an increase in the number of people that have science and engineering degrees that go onto to work in unrelated areas. My personal preference would be to promote special purpose high schools with a focus on science and engineering where we can put our limited resources into a fewer number of highly skilled and motivated students.</p>
<p>The idea that we in Australia accept international standards and risk assessments for certain product approvals is a great one. For too long, especially in the more mature industries, we have seen oligarchies in Australia exploit standards organisations in order to keep out foreign competition. This has had two unwanted consequences; firstly, it has put upward pressure on relative prices for Australia customers (due to less competition), and, secondly, it has acted as a disincentive for Australian producers to expand their focus overseas. The question is whether this new principal only for newly emerging standards, or if this brush will also be run over existing standards.</p>
<p>The government says it will provide A$188.5 million to fund “Industry Growth Centres” in five key sectors. There are very few details so it is hard to comment on this one other than to say that this represents a (mean) expenditure of $37 million for each of the so-called growth sectors and it would be pretty silly to expect any significant national economic outcomes from such low levels of expenditure. </p>
<hr>
<p>*<em>Jim Minifie, Productivity Growth Program Director at Grattan Institute
*</em></p>
<p>For a refreshing change, the Industry and Competitiveness Agenda is a readable document that clearly sets out what the government has done and aims to do in pursuit of four goals (business environment, labour force, infrastructure, industry policy).</p>
<p>While the “have done” list includes some questionable calls like ending carbon pricing and the “will do” list includes some questionable commitments like the paid parental leave scheme, the concrete new initiatives announced in the Agenda look broadly sensible and do not cost much. Three of the initiatives could turn out to be big contributors to startups, gains from trade, and skilled migration. The program offers substantial spending on apprenticeships, and several smaller funded programs. </p>
<p>Reforms to the Employee Share Scheme (ESS) taxation arrangements are overdue. Paying employees partly in shares or share options can be a great way for cash-strapped start-ups to reward employees while burning through a minimum of cash, but since 2009, Australian start-up employees could have to pay tax at issuance. Start-up employees have been in the absurd position of having to pay tax well before their shares can be sold for cash. While some start-ups have found ways around the restrictions, many say the rules sorely limited the value of share schemes in Australia. Shifting the point of taxation back will make make it much easier for start-ups to make attractive offers to their employees. </p>
<p>A tougher test on the creation of Australian standards is also welcome and overdue. Before a new Australia-specific standard can be set, regulators will need to show that there is a good reason to introduce one. Government will also apply the new test to existing Australian standards, not only new ones. Standards can be a two-edged sword: they can reduce the costs to buyers of assessing quality; but they can also be used to benefit firms whose products meet the standards by restricting competition. The reforms should also help Australian exporters achieve production scale by using a single certification for domestic and international markets.</p>
<p>Reforms for skilled migration are sensible as well, if relatively minor. Research overseas has shown that skilled migrants do not take jobs away from locals, but instead can boost their incomes. Skilled migrants can make locals more productive, start businesses that employ locals, or help local firms plug into international networks. Anecdotally, technology firms in some cases have had difficulty attracting top international talent. It’s less clear whether clearing the way for so-called significant and premium investors will add much value; in principle, reducing the barriers to equity capital inflow could be useful as investors can start new businesses where they live. Australia’s dividend imputation rules do probably bias foreign investment towards debt rather than equity, so there may be a broader case for to attract foreign equity including through investor visas. </p>
<p>STEM education in Australian schools has lagged, with enrolments falling in the 2000s, and many schools saying they are short of teachers with strong mathematics and science qualifications. While questions can be raised about whether the demand is there for tertiary STEM graduates, it’s much easier to make the case for stronger secondary STEM education, which creates options for students and builds foundation skills. </p>
<p>Finally, five Industry Growth Centres will get seed grants and will be able to apply for further funding. The model brings to mind the Innovation Precincts of the previous government. The focus areas (food/agribusiness; mining technology and services; oil, gas and energy; medical technology; and advanced manufacturing) are not a million miles from those suggested by the Business Council of Australia’s work with McKinsey. The logic for a subsidy is that firms can be reluctant to innovate where they expect others will capture benefits. </p>
<p>Australian universities do not score well on “translation” to industry. The logic for the sectors chosen seems to be that the payoff may be biggest in large or rapidly developing sectors. While a case can be made for action, the evidence base for the value of such programs is relatively weak. As long as the programs are built from the beginning with evaluation built in (and funded), they have some chance of paying off and will at least teach us about what doesn’t work. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>John Rice, Associate Professor in Strategic Management at Griffith University</strong></p>
<p>The promise of $185 million to establish five new “Industry Growth Centres” (in the areas of food and agribusiness, mining equipment, technology and services, oil, gas and energy resources, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals; and advanced manufacturing sectors) can be seen as a re-packaging of funds that have previously supported the eleven “Industry Skills Councils”, albeit with a focus on innovation rather than skills and training quality. Handily, the acronym doesn’t change!</p>
<p>Notable sectoral absences among the newly established centres are the service industries in Australia – clearly not a good omen for those industries that have not been favoured by inclusion in the narrow mandates of the new centres. In terms of governance arrangements, the new centres are clearly industry driven, while the sidelined skills councils were, to a greater or less degree, tripartite in nature with a clear role for unions.</p>
<p>What is lacking is a clear policy framework for industry development that encompasses skills, investment and innovation. The previous Labor government created a bricolage of bodies in the skills and innovation area with overlapping responsibilities (that even insiders struggled to understand), extraordinary bureaucratic waste and scams that siphoned State VET funding.The current government has rationalised many of these bodies, but today’s announcements in VET and innovation replace the bricolage with an equally unacceptable patchwork.</p>
<p>The Minister also announced half a million dollars in funding to assess the development of P-TECH-like programs in Australia. These have been developed in the US and link private employers, educational providers and (generally) low socio-economic students. In Australia, private firms have accessed public funds previously to train their employees – and generally this has not gone well. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/scrap-employer-incentives-new-report/story-e6frgcjx-1226111222799">Anecdotes of burger flippers being surreptitiously enrolled</a> in VET programs as a means of siphoning public funds haunted the sector a few years ago. It is important that P-TECH does not emerge as a similar scam.</p>
<p>Suspending my natural cynicism, however, linking employers and trainees is a good thing if it is accompanied by a sense of mutual obligation. It would be tragedy to invest heavily in narrow skills sets that become worthless if a multinational employer opts to leave Australia. As such, skills should be relevant and generic, and not focused too narrowly on the processes and systems used in specific firms.</p>
<hr>
<p>*<em>Rachel Wilson, Senior Lecturer at University of Sydney
*</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02188791.2014.924387">Research</a> has shown that educational attainment (reading, science and numeracy on PISA) and IMF measures of competitiveness are highly correlated. In Australia, however, we have <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/73153/1/Continuing_decline_of_science_proof.pdf">declining participation</a> and <a href="http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PISA-2012-Report.pdf">levels of attainment</a> in STEM education that threaten future economic competitiveness. Contrast this with the massive investment, strong participation and high levels attainment in STEM among our competing and neighbourhood economies, like <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/PDF/SAF02Consultants/Consultant%20Report%20-%20China.pdf">China</a>, or <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/PDF/SAF02Consultants/SAF02_STEM_%20FINAL.pdf">with others</a>, and the picture looks grim – we risk being left behind. Therefore this policy attention is very welcome and needed.</p>
<p>My concern is that it is still a very modest investment and is not targeted for the best bang for our buck. Provision of teaching resources is important but not as important as teacher professional development programs – particularly those focusing on teacher pedagogical content knowledge in STEM. There is evidence that those entering the teaching profession also have declining participation and attainment in science, math and technology; and current efforts to lift teacher quality are not focused on these areas. There is no requirement for teachers to have completed intermediate level maths or any science for HSC – and many do not.</p>
<p>The focus on a pilot program and Summer schools for students too, while admirable, will not have wide reach. Indeed there have been many such programs promoting students interest in STEM and innovation in schools over the past two decades, yet concurrently many students have dropped study in these fields and our attainment levels among 15-year olds are <a href="http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PISA-2012-Report.pdf">declining</a>. More attention needs to be paid to teacher knowledge and pedagogy in STEM, in early childhood through to university, and on structural policy issues relating to how STEM is valued, or not, within educational curricula. In NSW the requirement for either maths or science at HSC was dropped in 2001 and <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/education/australia_maths_crisis_I3P1MZ7bcKJKqiyOSnGDVM">since then numbers have been in decline</a>. We cannot hope that programs to lift interest among students, so proliferate among education systems worldwide, will alone make a difference to our current position. Braver reform is needed.</p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The federal government has released its National Industry Investment and Competitiveness Agenda, committing around A$400 million towards “industry growth centres”, new tax incentives for employee share…Charis Palmer, Deputy Editor/Chief of StaffAlexandra Hansen, Deputy Editor and Chief of Staff, The Conversation AUNZLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/277172014-09-10T20:33:13Z2014-09-10T20:33:13Z457 visa reformers should remember our shady skilled migration history<p>Temporary labour migration in Australia is a highly vexed issue. On the one hand those advocating a rethink of the 457 visa are accused of “turning away skilled, net-contributors to the Australian project”, while those opposed to re-regulating the 457 visa have been cast as failing to protect the jobs of Australian workers or being unconcerned about the exploitation of 457 visa holders.</p>
<p>The reality is somewhere in between. </p>
<p>Yesterday the government released the <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Documents/reviews/streamlined-responsive-457-programme.pdf">report</a> of the 457 visa independent review panel, which is a constructive and evidence-based contribution to the ongoing debate over temporary skilled migration. </p>
<p>The 457 visa can benefit the Australian economy, creating local jobs and providing life opportunities for temporary migrant workers. Crucial to its success, however, is the design of the program to ensure 457 visa holders are only used in areas of genuine skill shortage, that they are protected from exploitation in the labour market and that we continue to invest in and train Australian workers, particularly the youth unemployed. </p>
<p>A number of positive reforms have been suggested in the report. Firstly, to improve the ability of the Immigration Department and Fair Work Ombudsman in monitoring compliance by employers with the rules of the 457 visa program. </p>
<p>Regulators cannot possibly monitor the workplace of every 457 visa holder – they are vastly outnumbered. However, the report recommends the Department and the FWO use a similar approach to the Australian Tax Office. Given not every tax claim can be scrutinised for fraud, a risk matrix is used, coupled with complex IT systems, to identify those most likely to be involved in tax evasion. </p>
<p>The report recommends a more coordinated approach between the Department and the ATO to ensure that the incomes of 457 visa holders are being accurately reported by employers and to identify visa holders who are most vulnerable to dodgy employer practices. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has indicated he will act on this recommendation.</p>
<p>Another key recommendation of the report is the proposal for an annual training contribution payable by employers who rely upon 457 visa holders. This innovative idea is based upon the notion of a “social licence”, that is, the idea that, in return for being able to access temporary migrant labour, the sponsor should contribute to a national benefit.</p>
<h2>Identifying skills shortages</h2>
<p>A welcome development in the report is the proposal for independent labour market testing to replace employer-conducted labour market testing. This is a proposal that I made in my submission to the 457 visa independent review panel, but also articulated in my <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-a-simple-solution-to-the-457-visa-impasse-15408">article</a> for The Conversation last year. </p>
<p>It’s important there is a rigorous mechanism for determining whether an occupation is genuinely in skill shortage. If it is, then it is usually entirely appropriate that an employer rely upon a 457 visa holder to meet the skill shortage. This opens up employment opportunities for local workers because it means the employer’s business is not stymied by its inability to fill vacancies. </p>
<p>However, if a skill shortage is not genuine and an employer is using a 457 visa holder to achieve a compliant workforce, a deunionised workforce or simply to rort the system by <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/engineer-on-457-visa-allegedly-ripped-off-by-almost-45000-by-sierra-fleet-services-for-work-at-rivergate-marina-and-shipyard-murarrie/story-fnihsrf2-1227051995986?nk=7535e00981f3047c919b4f9cb1c86cd9">paying the worker less</a>, then there is real cause for concern that local jobs are being replaced by temporary migrant workers. The government’s repeated attempts to whitewash claims of rorting within the 457 visa program obscure the truth: temporary migrant workers are a vulnerable group and cases continue to emerge of serious exploitation and abuse.</p>
<p>While employer-conducted labour market testing burdens good employers with extra red tape, it is relatively easy for unscrupulous employers to evade. In contrast, my article in the Federal Law Review last year shows that independent labour market testing <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Documents/reviews/joanna-howe.pdf">can work</a>. </p>
<h2>Some of the advice is being ignored</h2>
<p>Yet, it seems unlikely that reforming the 457 visa program so that it works more effectively to meet skill shortages is going to be adopted by the government. </p>
<p>In his address to the National Press Club, Minister Scott Morrison did not identify the report’s recommendation for an independent labour market testing model as a priority, instead admitting that because of a lack of cross-bench support, the government was prepared to retain the employer conducted labour market testing model but that the Department was applying this in a diluted fashion. What this means in practice, is that there is still no rigorous way to determine whether an occupation is genuinely in shortage.</p>
<p>A proposal contained in the report which the government has said it will adopt, is the weakening of the English language requirement. This is currently a minimum of five across the four competencies (reading, writing, speaking and listening) which the report proposes should be reduced to an average of five. </p>
<p>This is concerning because the main function of the English language proficiency requirement is to ensure a 457 visa holder will not be exploited. </p>
<p>If temporary migrant workers have lesser language skills, this could leave them vulnerable to potential health and safety risks in the workplace. Research shows migrant workers usually have far higher injury rates because they have less training and experience, and less command of the local language. This was the case prior to the Rudd government’s reforms to improve the English language requirements.</p>
<h2>Protecting the integrity of the program</h2>
<p>Another concerning recommendation of the report is the proposal to freeze the Temporary Skill Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) at its current level and to review the role of the TSMIT in two year’s time. </p>
<p>Like a strong English language requirement, the TSMIT has a key role in protecting the integrity of the program overall. It was introduced following the <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/457-integrity-review.htm">Deegan Review</a> into the 457 visa to act as a salary floor ensuring a visa holder’s wage was sufficient to maintain a reasonable standard of living given the lack of access to welfare and tax benefits available to local workers. </p>
<p>This protection was seen as particularly necessary for visa holders in trades or semi-skilled work because the Deegan Review found many of these were not receiving salaries or wages equivalent to that of Australian workers performing the same work, in some cases, even where employed in the same workplaces. </p>
<h2>A preference for deregulation</h2>
<p>The report is a step in the right direction in that it offers ideas on how to reform the 457 visa program so that it is more balanced. It seems unlikely some of the more re-regulatory, worker-protective proposals will be adopted by the government, with the Minister indicating his preference for deregulating the program and making it easier for employers to access temporary migrant labour. </p>
<p>This brings with it real concerns that the scheme will begin to operate in the way it did under the Howard government, where the program was expanded and deregulated. During this time, stories abounded of serious instances of exploitation: an Indian chef unable to speak English worked 14 hours a day for 40 consecutive days without being paid. In another case, four Chinese workers who spoke little English were found to have been underpaid $93,667. In another case two workers were forced to continue working after breaking bones in their arms doing work they were unqualified to do. In many other cases 457 visa holders had “rent money” docked from their wages to pay for overcrowded and underserviced company housing.</p>
<p>It is vitally important the Minister does not forget the chequered history of the 457 visa program and does not merely adopt the deregulatory proposals of the report without seriously considering ideas for how to improve the integrity of the whole program.</p>
<p>The problem for the government is how to design a deregulatory 457 visa without Australia descending into a guest-worker ghetto. Our experience makes it apparent that rigorous, in-built safeguards are needed and it is simply not good enough for the Minister to dismiss claims of rorting out of hand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Temporary labour migration in Australia is a highly vexed issue. On the one hand those advocating a rethink of the 457 visa are accused of “turning away skilled, net-contributors to the Australian project…Joanna Howe, Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/303472014-08-11T20:25:45Z2014-08-11T20:25:45ZAustralia has outsourced migration policy to the private sector<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56116/original/n27r3y3f-1407722141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government focus on economic migration has meant increased private sector power over who becomes Australian.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kit/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s migration policy has shifted significantly in the past 20 years, leaving a system subject to widespread <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/border-farce-rampant-visa-rorting-going-unchecked-20140806-3d8xs.html">rorting</a> and controversy. </p>
<p>If there is a single lesson to be learnt from the revelations of rorting in the 457 visa system, it is that Australia’s migration programs need to be opened up to greater scrutiny, and that government, not the private sector should drive migration policy. A dedicated low skilled work visa with appropriate labour market testing could be a step in the right direction. </p>
<h2>How we got here</h2>
<p>The burgeoning of Australia’s temporary migration program, with a growing focus on skilled migrants, reflects the changing focus of successive federal governments.</p>
<p>The first shift has seen the permanent migration program evolve from one with a focus on family and humanitarian migration to economic migration. </p>
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<p>A second big shift has been the introduction of temporary pathways for migrants to work in Australia. In recent years, 100,000 – 135,000 temporary migrants have been admitted annually, mainly through the subclass 457 temporary visa scheme. These migrants are employer sponsored, and are entitled to work for 4 years. </p>
<p>Although the government determines a list of skilled occupations temporary migrants must possess to be sponsored, it is employers who determine how many migrants within any particular occupation actually enter Australia. We have <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-a-simple-solution-to-the-457-visa-impasse-15408">written in The Conversation before</a> about how this skilled occupation list is highly problematic as it includes occupations that are not experiencing a domestic skill shortage. This has led to an over-supply of some skilled occupations in the Australian labour market, such as cooks and accountants.</p>
<p>The most common pathway to permanent residency is by first entering Australia as a temporary skilled migrant, in a two-step migration process, meaning that to a large extent, who becomes Australian has been outsourced to the private sector. </p>
<h2>Problems go beyond 457 visas</h2>
<p>It is within the 457 visa scheme that there is alleged to be widespread rorting. Employers are alleged to have sponsored migrants to work in areas of employment on the government’s skilled occupation list, only to then employ them in much lower skilled jobs. Migrant workers who find themselves working in jobs not commensurate with their level of skill, are unlikely to complain as they are tied to their employer, and risk losing their jobs and their visa if they do.</p>
<p>Outside the standard sponsorship arrangements under the 457 visa, there are two limited exceptions for the employment of low and/or semi-skilled migrant workers. First, the Pacific Seasonal workers scheme facilitates the employment of Pacific workers in the horticultural industry, for which there has been a very limited take up. </p>
<p>Second, a labour agreements pathway facilitates the employment of workers under the 457 scheme who are not on the skilled occupation list. This scheme is underused because of an excess of regulation, with agreements taking between six to eight months to negotiate. Each agreement needs to be individually negotiated with the Department of Immigration and because the agreement has the status of a commercial contract, it is not tabled in Parliament or available for public scrutiny. </p>
<p>Thus, apart from the efficiency problems for employers, there are very real public transparency and accountability concerns arising from the continuing operation of the labour agreements stream.</p>
<h2>International students compete for low-skilled jobs</h2>
<p>In the last 10 years there has been a dramatic increase in unskilled work being done by migrants on visas dedicated to purposes other than work, namely, international students and working holiday visa holders. These visa schemes do not contain the same protections for workers on dedicated labour migration schemes. </p>
<p>As at 30 June, there were 160,503 working holiday makers in Australia, of whom 38,862 had taken up the option of a second working holiday visa to work in regional Australia. And there were 304,251 international student visa holders with the right to work up to 40 hours a fortnight during the course of their studies in any job in any industry in Australia. </p>
<p>In the 2012-13 financial year, 142,405 students stayed in Australia on other visas at the conclusion of their studies. More than a quarter of these were on new Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visas introduced in 2013 to provide graduates with the ability to work for two years in Australia. The subclass 485 visa is not subject to labour market testing, and graduates are not required to work in the area of their studies. As a result, tens of thousands of international student graduates on these visas are competing directly with domestic graduates for entry into the labour market.</p>
<p>Finally, mention must be made of a new group of migrants residing in the Australian community – asylum seekers on bridging visas, who used to have the right to work legally, but no longer do as a result of a policy shift. As at 25 February 2014, there were 23,616 asylum seekers in the community on Bridging Visa Es, of whom 19,353 had no entitlement to work.</p>
<p>The no work condition in BVEs makes asylum seekers particularly vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace. There is a real risk that employers will prefer to illegally employ a willing and enthusiastic asylum seeker than to pay an Australian worker the minimum wage for the equivalent job.</p>
<h2>Australia should consider a low skilled work visa</h2>
<p>Australia’s current migration policy is unwieldy and anomalous in many ways. It does not formally acknowledge the unskilled work done by migrant workers, leaving this work under–regulated to the detriment of both migrant and local workers. The working holiday maker scheme and the international graduate students visa are having as significant an impact on the Australian labour market as the subclass 457 visa. Yet, this reality is being largely ignored by policymakers as the two former visa types are not officially for a “work” purpose. </p>
<p>Australia needs a more considered, coherent and transparent approach to determining how many temporary migrant workers to admit, under what conditions and for what jobs. </p>
<p>One way forward is to develop an explicit and formal entry pathway for low and semi skilled migrant workers. This should be subject to stringent labour market testing to ensure that the skill shortages are genuine and to ensure that local job opportunities, and apprenticeship and training programs, especially for young Australians, are not being displaced. </p>
<p>If there is a genuine skill shortage, then it is acceptable for this to be filled by a migrant worker but if the skill shortage would be better met through training domestic workers, then this is the more appropriate outcome. </p>
<p><em>Associate Professor Alexander Reilly and Dr Joanna Howe are Lecturers in Law and members of the Public Law and Policy Research Unit at the University of Adelaide.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s migration policy has shifted significantly in the past 20 years, leaving a system subject to widespread rorting and controversy. If there is a single lesson to be learnt from the revelations…Joanna Howe, Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideAlex Reilly, Associate Professor, Law School, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/303042014-08-08T04:50:03Z2014-08-08T04:50:03ZSkilled migration is in trouble, but don’t shoot the messenger<p>Recently leaked Immigration department <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/brokenborders?rand=1407336867393">documents</a> reveal considerable rates of visa fraud in the Australian immigration system. This is of grave concern to the Australian public, especially as unemployment has just jumped to its highest level in twelve years. While some of the reporting on this issue has been unduly alarmist, there are very real concerns here about the capacity of the Australian immigration regime to police its own systems.</p>
<p>As the leaked Operation Blueberry report notes, immigration fraud is a multi-million dollar industry involving multiple players in Australia and overseas. </p>
<p>An often under-addressed issue of regulation is the mushrooming “migration industry”- a complex and transnational web of agents, lawyers, labour recruiters, accommodation brokers and loan sharks. Mostly paid by migrants themselves or by employers, these businesses facilitate much of the migration process. </p>
<p>Accredited Australian lawyers and agents are often above board, but the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) lacks capacity to regulate and prosecute the murky international network of formal and informal migration brokers. It is these brokers, as well as employers, who are often complicit in the production of what migration researchers Bridget Anderson and Martin Ruhs call <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/reports-and-other-publications/changingstatus/the-origins-and-functions-of-illegality/">“semi-compliance”</a>- migrants who enter or reside in a country with a legal visa, but are in breach of their visa conditions in some way.</p>
<p>Semi-compliance is a particular concern in temporary migration schemes. Examples include a working holiday maker who works cash-in-hand beyond the six month time limit with one employer, or a 457 visa worker hired as a project manager who in fact ends up doing low-skilled manual or administrative work. </p>
<p>Another common problem revealed in the reports is the falsification of work experience for temporary migrants to gain a permanent visa. These types of fraud not only damage the integrity of our visa system, but also put migrants’ workplace rights severely at risk.</p>
<h2>A department with more bark than bite</h2>
<p>But investigating and prosecuting these types of fraud is resource and labour intensive. The leaked Sievers Report highlights the severity of the challenges in an increasingly under-resourced department. </p>
<p>Alongside the stripping of staff and resources from its main investigation offices, the department is unable to pay qualified and experienced staff, leading to a deskilled investigative workforce. </p>
<p>Another key issue is the budgetary pressures on the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), which Sievers believes leads to reluctance by the CDPP to pursue prosecutions from evidence brought forward by the department. This particularly stymies the ability of the department to go after and to deter “high value targets” – the big players in the migration fraud industry – rather than just providing an ultimately ineffective “slap on the wrist” to small numbers of individual migrants and businesses.</p>
<p>The department rightly noted in its <a href="http://www.newsroom.immi.gov.au/releases/migration-fraud-reporting">response</a> to the leak that some of the more damning reports are several years old and relate to policies that have already been revised. It denies that rorting is systemic and points to a number of recent improvements to integrity measures. The department acknowledges, however, that enforcement will always be a challenging space and that some level of fraud is unavoidable.</p>
<h2>Will the government act?</h2>
<p>The business lobby will always put strong pressure on a Coalition government to keep labour migration fairly flexible, while those concerned about foreign workers’ rights and the impact on local workers will push for more careful regulation. But the government can’t have it both ways in the battle to balance quality over quantity in the migration system. </p>
<p>For example, the program that seems to provide the biggest “win-win-win” scenario in terms of importing crucial labour, protecting local jobs, and providing opportunity to migrants is the best-practice Seasonal Workers Program (SWP). However, due to the careful vetting and monitoring of employers and the resources required to do so, this scheme is likely to remain very small in terms of numbers.</p>
<p>The leaked DIBP reports should not be a call to begin to drastically cut immigration ad hoc, nor to see all migrants as potentially fraudulent or criminal. The migration program remains highly significant to Australia’s overall economic and social development. The frustration of DIPB staff in their lack of capacity to do their jobs is palpable, however, and needs to be addressed with some very careful consideration of how regulatory resources should best be increased and distributed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shanthi Robertson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recently leaked Immigration department documents reveal considerable rates of visa fraud in the Australian immigration system. This is of grave concern to the Australian public, especially as unemployment…Shanthi Robertson, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/280622014-06-18T05:05:14Z2014-06-18T05:05:14ZSkilled migration strategy falls victim to red tape busters<p>Although few working Australians would be familiar with the work of the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, all of us depend on it to some degree.</p>
<p>In a shortsighted move, the government has decided to abolish the agency, and the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fems%2Fr5253_ems_e36ef79f-e03d-48af-81d9-ac0c095e9700%22">Repeal Bill</a> is currently before the Senate.</p>
<h2>What does the agency do?</h2>
<p>The AWPA identifies skill shortages in the domestic economy, and those it deems too severe to be met by the current domestic workforce are then added to the Skilled Occupation List. An overseas worker can apply for permanent residency in Australia, so long as they possess the necessary skills. For other skill shortages, AWPA advocates greater domestic training and investment, thereby encouraging the government to invest in developing the local workforce.</p>
<p>Other major contributions of AWPA include its development of a series of comprehensive national workforce development strategies, its initiation of key sectoral skills reports which uncover the needs of industries including retail, engineering and manufacturing, and its role in directing attention towards not just skills development but the better use of skills in the workplace. Each of these initiatives would not have occurred without AWPA’s leadership.</p>
<p>Not every decision of AWPA (and its predecessor Skills Australia) has been universally popular. Indeed, not every decision has been right. But the agency provides an invaluable, independent voice that all federal governments can learn from.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the government has shut its eyes to AWPA’s important role. The AWPA repeal bill will see the activities of AWPA subsumed into the Department of Industry. The government says this will be more efficient and reduce red tape.</p>
<p>But this is completely out of step with what other countries are doing in this area.</p>
<h2>Small government</h2>
<p>Even in the United Kingdom, AWPA’s equivalent, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has escaped the deregulatory zeal of the conservative Cameron government and its so called “Red Tape Challenge”. </p>
<p>Britain’s MAC has played a critical role in conducting independent labour market analysis. It has earned a reputation for careful analysis of the data and evidence on skill shortages that has helped to win support from both the government and the public. Of course there are stakeholders who disagree with some of the MAC’s recommendations, but the committee’s willingness to consider both top-down labour market indicators and bottom-up evidence from employers has been critical to its success. </p>
<p>Even if the MAC deems there to be a skill shortage, it does not always recommend an increased intake of migrant workers. Its findings can trigger government actions to reduce shortages in the future by initiating a formal review of the training system that trains British workers for the occupation in question.</p>
<p>Australia could learn from the British approach to identifying and meeting domestic skill shortages. Instead of abolishing the one, independent, federal agency with expertise in this area, the government should be increasing its investment in AWPA. This agency is critical to the integrity of Australia’s permanent migration program and its role should be expanded (as in the UK) to include the temporary migration program, namely the subclass 457 visa.</p>
<h2>An independent view on 457 visas</h2>
<p>In addition to compiling the Skilled Occupation List, AWPA should also put together the list of occupations for which the subclass 457 visa can be used. This would most definitely improve the efficacy of Australia’s temporary labour migration program.</p>
<p>With youth unemployment on the rise and with the recent federal budget reducing payments for the unemployed, it is essential we provide employment opportunities and career pathways for Australians. </p>
<p>While it might be simpler, quicker and easier to plug many skill shortages with temporary or permanent migrant workers, a better, more visionary response would be to invest in the training of the domestic workforce where possible. The AWPA has provided a critical independent voice in this regard.</p>
<p>The decision to abolish AWPA is not any reflection of the quality and importance of the work it has been doing. Instead, it is a byproduct of the Abbott government’s ideological preoccupation with deregulating and reducing the size of government. The real casualty of this shortsighted decision will be Australian jobs and the skills development of the domestic workforce.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although few working Australians would be familiar with the work of the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, all of us depend on it to some degree. In a shortsighted move, the government has decided…Joanna Howe, Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.