ACCI calls for boosted intake, better coordination and responsiveness from government
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the country’s largest business network, has made a submission regarding the federal government’s policy on migration.
Employers and businesses alike have called for a comprehensive overhaul of the current system, one that would “boost growth, create jobs and encourage innovation,” ACCI said in a media release.
The changes are needed, say employers.
Around July 2022, HRD reported that international doctors could not work in the country despite job offers, which resulted in health leaders calling for the streamlining of complex registration processes of a “broken system.”
In a bid to address critical workforce shortages, the government increased the country’s permanent Migration Programme ceiling to 195,000 in 2022-23, as reported by HRD.
In this regard, the ACCI has echoed the importance of increasing the skilled migration intake, providing temporary migrants with the opportunity to obtain permanent residency, and reducing the levy employers must pay to recruit foreign workers to acquire a sustained boost of in-demand workers.
With Australia’s ageing population and a general decrease in the birth rate, a “skills gap” has become apparent, and the country must act fast to remain competitive in the global market.
One of the ACCI’s key submissions is implementing a national coordination mechanism, emphasising that the country “would greatly benefit from a national coordination mechanism to better coordinate migration policy both federally and amongst the states,” it said.
Additionally, the group raised the importance of creating a migration system that suits Australia’s workforce needs. It said this could be achieved through the coordination of labour market analysis and forecasting to ensure decisions regarding skills and training needs would be relevant.
The chamber explained that skilled migration occupation lists and employment policy and programs should be “well-informed by data and evidence from state/territory and national levels,” adding that the industry also has “a key role in communicating their anticipated workforce development and skilled labour needs.”
Another key point, according to ACCI, is “ensuring responsiveness to skill needs” through employer-sponsored migration.
Before 2017, the government allowed the sponsorship of all skilled occupations, and the group called for the return of said policy. It argued that employer-sponsored skilled migration for both permanent and temporary workers should give businesses access to all occupations classified as “skilled.”
“This ensures the system is responsive to all skill needs, not just national skill shortages,” the ACCI said, adding that employer-sponsored migration is “the most successful form of migration in Australia” as it has “immediate employment outcomes guaranteed and provides long term employment experience,” the group said.
Meanwhile, ACCI’s head of trade and international affairs, Chris Barnes, also said that the government should make the country attractive by offering the incentives of permanent residency.
“A pathway to permanency for all temporary skilled migrants means Australia can be the destination of choice for the world’s best talent. Business isn’t the only beneficiary here. It allows migrants to come here, settle, raise families, and contribute to their local community,” he said.
