The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) has responded to the release of the new Australian Government Migration Strategy with a call to include much needed tradespeople in the ‘Specialist Skills Pathway’ process that is available to applicants with specialist skills.
Currently, this pathway is not available to tradespeople.
“Restricting tradespeople from this category will likely mean priorities will go to applicants who can’t do things like fixing the brakes on a car,” said VACC CEO Geoff Gwilym.
“VACC and the national automotive peak body, the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA), have for some time pointed out the time lags and speed humps that need to be tackled to get tradies into the country.”
VACC welcomes the overarching principles of the review, but says the specialist skills fast-track process should extend to trades once the model is proven.
“If we can fast-track specialist skills personnel, then why not trade applicants as well,” said Mr Gwilym.
VACC says new four-year visas are welcome, as this gives stability to workers, their families and employers. However, extending the capacity for sponsored migrant workers to more easily move between employers needs strong safeguards to ensure rogue employers don’t poach sponsored migrants from employers who have made significant investments in time and money to locate and support the movement of workers into their business.
“The last thing we want to see is a dispute between employers about who will pay the fees and costs associated with attracting a sponsored worker who is actively coached to move to another employer,” said Mr Gwilym.