Back in August I warned that the Morrison Government’s new Agricultural Visa would usher an “immigration scab grab”, with other sectors of the Australian economy likely to step up and demand similar access to industry-specific visas under the guise of ‘skills shortages’:
You could easily imagine a situation where the Morrison Government introduces a new ‘Serving Australia’ hospitality visa, a new ‘Building Australia’ construction and engineering visa, a new ‘Caring Australia’ health and aged care visa, or any other industry manifestation.
After all, the parliamentary migration committee this month recommended a pathway to permanent residency for all migrant workers who come to Australia on temporary skill visas.
So brace yourself for a flood of industry migration deals. The great immigration scab grab has begun.
Since then we have witnessed Infrastructure Partnerships Australia CEO Adrian Dwyer call on the federal government to introduce a dedicated visa for the infrastructure sector.
Now the wage thieving hospitality industry has demanded its own special visas:
Paddy O’Sullivan, who is the chief executive of the Australian Hotels Association… has joined Restaurant and Catering CEO Wes Lambert in calling on the federal government to fast track at least 100,000 special hospitality visas…
“This is the worst workforce crisis for hospitality in the history of Australia” [Wes Lambert said]…
“This is the worst we’ve seen because it’s coming on the back of a health crisis which has turned into a business and economic crisis,” said Paddy O’Sullivan…
The fact remains that the hospitality industry is ground zero for migrant wage theft and has the lowest pay rates in the nation by a wide margin, according to the ABS:
The Accommodation & Food Services industry pays the lowest wages in Australia.
Therefore, giving the industry special access to foreign workers will only worsen the systemic exploitation already prevalent across hospitality, keeping wages low and denying local workers employment opportunities and a living wage.
Any industry that relies on cheap exploitable migrant labour to thrive is not a sustainable industry. It needs fundamental structural reform.
Politicians must stop pandering to vested interests like Australian Hotels Association and Restaurant and Catering Australia. Otherwise Australian wage growth will never recover.
