457 visa program mismanagement fails everyone: local workers, skilled migrants and industry.
The Minister for Immigration has announced that 510 Skilled Migrants came into the ACT in 2005-2006. The construction industry saw the biggest percentage increase in the use of 457 temporary skilled migration visas with a 263% increase!
Despite the Minister’s claims of how the temporary skilled migration program is helping the ACT economy, the Howard Government has let the temporary skilled migration program turn into a complete shambles.
The Minister’s gross mismanagement of this program has allowed it to be abused and yet she refused to support a Senate inquiry into the program to consider the effects that skilled migrant labour has on Australian jobs.
Labor has no problem with 457 visas being used to fill genuine job vacancies, however, they should not be used to drive wages and conditions down.
We have seen locally how the Howard Government has turned a blind eye towards abuse of the program, and only acted when this abuse is exposed in Parliament. There is no guarantee that this won’t happen again.
This mismanagement of the temporary skilled migration program means Senator Vanstone has failed Australian workers, failed to protect skilled migrants and failed employers experiencing genuine skills shortages all in one go!
The Minister also still fails to answer one simple question – why not train Australians?
Contact: Rachel Allen – 0418 488 295 or 6277 3334
