.png)
.jpg)
Trying to predict the future in terms of what kinds of visas will be prioritised in the next few years and who Australia is most interested in attracting, is a very dark art indeed. It has always been this way. The system is subject to economic and political imperatives that change over time. Migration is very much a political football in Australia.
The last few years have been very difficult for skilled workers, migrants and any professionals working to assist them. Processing times have blown out, the points needed to achieve positive skilled visa outcomes have skyrocketed, the state governments appear to have fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to being the drivers for local migration and the Department of Home Affairs (The department) itself has become dysfunctional in the way it deals with almost aspect of the migration system.
Fortunately, I do think that we are at a significant moment in Australia’s migration history and that big changes are coming. I believe that the Covid years have accelerated the urgency with which changes to the migration system are being considered. We are constantly hearing that employers can’t find suitable skilled staff, while at the same being told about a housing crisis caused by too many migrants arriving on these shores; what’s the truth?
I speak with employers almost daily who are desperate to find motivated, skilled staff. I have corporate clients in Australia who have become dependent on temporary visa holders who have been ‘stuck’ in Australia for several years and now. The fact that they are still here and able to work is an upside to the terrible trauma that the Covid lockdown here caused and the governments’ helpful concessions to help employers through those difficult time. These concessions and now coming to an end. Where will these employers (mostly in the regions) find their skilled workers now?
The Labour government acknowledges the challenges that are faced. In February 2023 the Minister for Home Affairs wrote in a media release ‘Australia’s migration system is broken, it is unstrategic, it is complex, expensive, it’s slow … It’s not delivering for migrants and it’s not delivering for the nation’.
The government commissioned an inquiry into the current state of the migration system and (unusually perhaps for such inquiries) the inquiry led by Dr Martin Parkinson AC published a report that was hard hitting and accurate.
The question is to what extent the issues identified in the Parkinson report will be dealt with?
I’m an optimist and the announcement from the department of the 8th May gives me great hope. In a nutshell, the department is proposing that all 482 visa holders (irrespective of their occupation) will be able to apply for permanent residency after completing two years in Australia with their employer. If this proposal is legislated it will be a massive change to a system driven by occupation lists and inherent visa pathway complexity.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss the issues raised in this article.
