Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Would the minister advise the House on how Australian companies are using 457 visas to continue to build their businesses to the benefit of the Australian economy? Are there any alternative policies?

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fisher for his question. I can report to him that, with a national unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent, there have been resultant shortages, particularly of temporary skilled workers, in some industries. That is why the 457 temporary skilled visa program is important. This program provides for skills assessment requirements. It also provides for a minimum salary requirement of $41,850, or the relevant industrial standard, whichever is the higher. In today’s Australian I read that there was support by one of the leading Job Network providers in Australia for this program. This leading Job Network provider was quoted in today’s Australian as saying:

What Australian employers are telling us, particularly out of the coal industry, is they are screaming for skilled people—highly skilled people—and the coal industry in Germany is winding down.

So there are many people in Germany who are very skilled, who use the same kind of equipment that the Australian coal industry uses, who are out of work or about to be out of work and ‘there is demand here that cannot be met, despite repeated advertising.’ This leading Job Network provider went on to say:

So we’re trying to meet a need and our conditions are that people are paid well.

She is right. People on 457 visas are paid well. Indeed, the average annual salary paid to 457 visa holders last year was $70,000. In the mining sector—and reference was made to the coal industry—the average salary last year was $87,000. I ask: who are some of the biggest users of 457 visa programs in Australia? Indeed, the state Labor governments in Queensland and Western Australia have recently entered into 457 labour agreements to sponsor workers in industry sectors which are experiencing workforce shortages. But the greatest user of 457 visas in Australia is none other than the state Department of Health in the Labor state of New South Wales. This is an important visa program for Australia. The government has committed an additional $85.3 million over the next four years to maintain the integrity of this temporary skilled migration program. Employer compliance will be targeted under this program to ensure that if any employers misuse the program then they will be investigated and indeed will face significant additional new penalties.

We in government are committed to maintaining a migration program that meets the needs and the interests of the Australian economy. That is, in effect, what the director of this Job Network agency was saying. This is someone, who is very close to the Leader of the Opposition, saying that 457 visas are very important for the future of the Australian economy and, as a consequence of that, also to the jobs of many Australians. It is a great pity that, hypocritically, we have the Australian Labor Party running around seeking to undermine this program.