The Turnbull Government has proven once and for all that its changes to Australia’s 457 ‘skilled’ visa system were fake, maintaining the minimum pay floor for temporary ‘skilled’ foreign workers at a pathetically low $53,900. From SBS News:
The government’s decision to ignore calls to increase the salary floor of 457 workers in its recent reforms threatens to undermine the ‘skilled’ component in the temporary skilled visa scheme, according to migration experts.
The salary floor for 457 visa holders, known as the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT), has remained at $53,900 since 2013, despite a government review recommending it be increased.
In the nine months to March, almost 10,000 457 visas were granted to workers on salaries between $53,900 and $57,000 (an estimate of where the TSMIT would have risen to by now had it not been frozen), according to documents published under Senate Estimates.
This group represents around one-quarter of the entire 457 scheme, which will provide grants to approximately 45,000 foreign workers in 2016-17, according to latest Department of Immigration figures.
Dr Joanna Howe, Professor in Law at the University of Adelaide, said although it might not seem significant to not increase the TSMIT each year, if it is not indexed a key integrity measure of the 457 visa is undermined.
“The decision to freeze the TSMIT and to keep it frozen means that the 457 visa is shifting somewhat from being a skilled and highly-skilled work visa, to being a more general labor supply visa which can meet the alleged shortages in industries like accommodation and food,” she said.
Of the 9850 visas granted, with salaries between $53,900 and $57,000, in the past nine months, 3806 were in the accommodation and food sector – six times more than any other identified sector.
Alex Kaufman, migration manager and lawyer at FCB Group, argued the continued freeze on the TSMIT “runs counter” to measures introduced under the government’s recently announced reform package.
“Given the TSMIT has been used as a proxy indicator for ‘skills’, both in terms of signalling skills shortages, and the level of skill held by a 457 visa applicant, the decision to not increase the TSMIT for the time being is likely a political one, designed to placate sectors where the highly skilled still come at relatively low cost – notably, the hospitality sector,” he said.
This is pathetic by the Turnbull Government. The recent Senate Report, entitled A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders, explicitly recommended that the minimum income threshold for 457 visa holders be indexed to ordinary weekly earnings, so that it is not eroded over time, along with the implementation of more rigorous, independent, evidence-based, and transparent processes for determining the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL), which it saw as ad hoc and ineffective:
Recommendation 5: The committee recommends that the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) be indexed to average fulltime weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) as at 1 July 2015 and that indexation occur each financial year.
Recommendation 6: The committee recommends that the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration (MACSM) be re-constituted as a genuinely tripartite, independent, and transparent body with responsibility and commensurate funding to provide objective evidence-based advice to government on matters pertaining to skills shortages, training needs, workforce capacity and planning, and labour migration (including Designated Area Migration Agreements and the full range of temporary visa programs with associated work rights). The committee further recommends that the reports produced by MACSM be made publicly available.
The Committee also recommended stringent labour market testing of all 457 visa nominations to ensure that employers employ locals first wherever possible:
Recommendation 7: The committee recommends that the replacement of local workers by 457 visa workers be specifically prohibited.
Recommendation 8: The committee recommends that the current exemptions on labour market testing for ANZSCO skill levels 1 and 2 be removed.
Recommendation 9: The committee recommends that the Migration Regulations be amended to specify that labour market testing applies to all positions nominated by approved sponsors under labour agreements and Designated Area Migration Agreements.
And the Committee recommended that employers using 457 visas make explicit efforts to employ and train locals:
Recommendation 13: The committee recommends that employer sponsors of a 457 visa worker (professional) be required to also employ an Australian tertiary graduate in the same enterprise on a one-for-one basis.
Recommendation 14: The committee recommends that employer sponsors of a 457 visa worker (trade) be required to demonstrate that apprentices represent 25 per cent of the sponsor’s total trade workforce (with the threshold for this requirement being the employment of four or more tradespersons).
Recommendation 15: The committee recommends that the current training benchmarks be replaced with a training levy paid per 457 visa holder employed in the business. The committee recommends that the levy be set at up to $4000 per 457 visa worker and that the levy be paid into existing government programs that specifically support sectors experiencing labour shortages as well as apprenticeships and training programs…
Clearly, the Coalition’s reforms have largely ignored the Committee’s recommendations. In addition to refusing to lift the minimum pay threshold to something credible, it has also implemented fake changes to labour market testing (by allowing it to be employer-conducted rather than independent), as well as fake changes to the skilled CSOL (which would only reduce the use of temporary skilled visas by 8%).
The fact remains that the floor salary for ‘skilled’ temporary workers should be set above the average full-time salary of $82,789 (which includes unskilled workers), not 35% below it at $53,900.
By maintaining such a low pay floor for temporary foreign workers, the Coalition has ensured the system will continue to be overused and abused, and will continue to undermine the pay and working conditions of local workers.
