On Wednesday, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, announced that it would extend Eligible Skilled-Recognised Graduate (Subclass 476) visas for 24 months:
This visa allows recent engineering graduates to live, work or study in Australia. This will provide eligible visa holders with the usual length of the visa, plus an additional six months.
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alex Hawke said this would allow current and former Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa holders to enter, or remain in, Australia until April 2024.
“This measure recognises the importance of qualified engineers to Australia’s economy, particularly as we continue to manage the COVID-19 recovery,” Minister Hawke said.
This decision was immediately cheered by Australian Industry Group CEO (also chair of the Migration Council of Australia), Innes Willox, who complained of an acute engineering shortage:
“The new concessions under the immigration program announced today will help provide businesses with desperately needed skilled labour at a time the economy is clearly picking up steam,” Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
“Allowing locally trained international engineering graduates to work longer in Australia is a well targeted measure that will address an area of critical skill shortages.
“At best, domestic undergraduate engineering completions of 8,600 would not currently cover Australia’s current need for 11,000 new engineers a year and the additional support provided through the migration program today is both essential and timely.
According to the federal government’s own historical skills shortage data, engineering has not been in shortage for years. Yet, the federal government has forever kept engineers on the skills shortage list, thereby ensuring that migrant engineers continue to oversupply the labour market.
Hilariously, the November 2021 issue of Engineers Australia’s own industry magazine, Create (cover below), complained that nearly half of all migrant engineers were unemployed and another third were working in jobs well below their qualification.
Below are key extracts from the ABC report on Engineers Australia’s study:
A report from the peak body found 47 per cent of migrant engineers looking for work are unemployed.
More than a third who do find jobs in engineering are underemployed, working at jobs below their experience and skill level.
“They’re working as Uber drivers, they’re working in the limited hospitality areas that are available, or they’re unemployed,” Engineers Australia chief executive Bronwyn Evans said…
Nearly 60 per cent of the 106,000 members of Engineers Australia were born overseas…
“I think that the problem that Australia has is, unfortunately, unconscious bias to do with migrants”, [Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia Mohammad Al-Khafaji said].
All of which begs the question: why is Australia importing engineers when there are minimal shortages and insufficient jobs? To add to the pool of underemployed and unemployed? To rob developing nations of their skilled workers? To suppress wages?
Clearly, Australia’s skilled visa program is one giant con that is failing dismally to meet its original intent. It needs root-and-branch reform not further enabling.
