An application to grant temporary work visas to 2,062 foreign
skilled workers has been submitted to the Australian government. The
workers would work in Australian resources projects The application,
made by British recruitment firm Cape, is the biggest block application
for temporary '457' visas yet made. It became public when a series of
letters between Cape Australia, unions and the Australian government
were leaked to the Australian Sunday Times newspaper. Australian unions
oppose the application calling it a 'slap in the face for Australian
workers.'
Temporary Business (Long Stay) Visa Subclass 457 visas,
commonly known as 457 visas, are temporary work permits which entitle
holders to work and reside in Australia for up to four years. They are
granted to workers who have an offer of a job in Australia and should
only be granted to workers with skills that cannot be found in the
Australian workforce. Cape has applied to import scaffolders,
sheet-metal workers, painters and cryogenic laggers from the
Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, the UK and the US. Cape
says that this is necessary because of 'acute' labour shortages which
are affecting Australian resources projects. Most of the workers would
work in the North West Shelf gas field off Western Australia. Others
would work on projects for Fortescue Metals, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto
in Western Australia and South Australia.
However, Dave Noonan,
the national secretary of the construction division of the Construction,
Forestry Mining Energy Union said 'This ought to be rejected out of
hand.' He said that there was sufficient labour in Australia to fill all
the positions.
Chris Bowen, the Australian Immigration Minister,
said that no decision had yet been made. 'Just because a company has
made an application for a labour agreement does not mean it will be
successful.' He added 'our first priority will always be jobs for
Australians.'
It is not only the number of 457 visas requested in
the Cape application that makes it controversial. It has also emerged
that the Cape application is not being made as part of an Enterprise
Migration Agreement (EMA). EMAs were introduced by the Australian
government in 2011 to allow the project managers of massive (AUS$2bn or
more) engineering projects to apply for enough 457 visas to ensure that
the project can be completed. The 457 visas should only be granted for
roles where no Australians can do the job. An EMA also requires the
applicant to show how the project will train Australians to work in the
resources sector. There is no such commitment in the Cape application.
In
May, the Australian government said it would be granting 1,715
temporary business (457) visas in connection with the Roy Hill iron ore
mining project in Western Australia. This, the government said, would
result in the creation of 8,000 jobs for Australians. 74 labour
agreements were approved in Australia in the last financial year.
If
you would like to apply for an Australian visa, workpermit.com can
help. workpermit.com is a specialist visa consultancy with nearly
twenty-five years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can
help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice.
Please feel free to contact us for further details.
No comments:
Post a Comment