Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

There are genuine skills shortages in some sectors and some regions, and overseas temporary workers are needed to fill those gaps. However, our skilled migration program—in particular the 457 temporary skilled worker visa program—was created for a specific purpose. We have identified problems with the current system and are acting to ensure the integrity of the 457 class visa system is upheld. For example, on a major construction site in Western Australia some 800 visas were issued to the employer without a single local worker being employed, and the work these temporary overseas workers were undertaking was not specialist work. Another example is a Perth manufacturing company who sponsored overseas workers at a salary of $92,000 to exempt them from the English language requirement, and then sent them to work for another company at a much lower wage. These examples demonstrate that some employers are exploiting— (Time expired)