Industry Skills crisis migrants to be fast-tracked
Recently reported skills shortages in the Australian hospitality industry may be relieved shortly the introduction of screening the skills of new overseas recruits in their home countries under a Federal Government scheme to fast-track the supply of labour in areas where there are shortages.
Despite criticism that business is increasingly relying on overseas labour, the Government is stepping up its effort to attract skilled workers from abroad, with workers being funnelled through offshore skills assessment centres, being set up by the middle of next year in countries that the Government believes have the greatest potential for providing workers who can fill existing skills shortages in Australia, including India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, South Africa and Britain.
The centres will target skills identified in the latest skills report from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations which lists 99,600 vacancies for skilled workers where there are critical shortages including electricians, motor mechanics, carpenters and joiners, bricklayers, plumbers, hairdressers and refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics but also targeting the reported 11,400 positions for people trained in food, hospitality and tourism.
Executive Director of TAFE Directors Australia, Martin Riordan, said in the Sydney Morning Herald that while the idea was a “good short-term opportunity”, more needed to be done to “align skills migration with skills training in Australia”, adding that the Government should invest more in attracting overseas students to vocational education centres in Australia in the same way they lured overseas university students.
At the moment applicants must send paperwork to Australia for assessment with the centres not requiring any changes to existing migration systems but allowing applicants wishing to come to Australia as skilled workers to have their capabilities assessed in their own countries.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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