URGENT REFORM OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS 457 VISAS SYSTEM NEEDED
Published Tuesday, 24 October, 2006 at 12:24 PM
Minister for State Development, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
There is urgent need for the Federal Governments 457 immigration visas system to be reformed Employment and Industrial Relations Minister John Mickel said today.
The recent problems a group of Filipino guest workers experienced at Brisbane firm Dartbridge Welding highlight the inadequacies of the checking procedures.
By its own admission the Federal Immigration Department is struggling to check compliance of sponsoring employers, only 62% were checked in 2004/2005, down from 96.6% in 2003/2004.
In the past year around 40,000 workers were brought into Australia on these temporary working visas.
The Queensland Government also calls on the Federal Government to establish a review of the regional certifying bodies. These bodies play an important role in ensuring the integrity of the system and any conflicts of interest must not be allowed to influence decision making.
In some cases the certifying body may be a Chamber of Commerce and they will be required to deal with matters involving their own members, strict protocols need to be developed to ensure the decision making process remains transparent.
Mr. Mickel said the Federal Government needs to introduce the following measures to ensure that the visas system is not abused and that the visas are not used to drive down employment conditions in Australia.
• Prior to approving any 457 visas the employer should have advertised for a period of 28 days with a job network provider
• Visas not to be approved if the employer has had redundancies in the past 12 months
• Visas not to be approved to replace workers taking protected legal industrial action
• Employers seeking to have 457 visa workers must employ apprentices/trainees or sponsor training of existing workers to ensure that skills shortage is not ongoing.
• Must ensure that the hourly rate for the calculation of overtime is the minimum salary level divided by 38.
• Ban labour hire firms from using 457 visas.
• Migration fees can’t be passed on to the migrant worker, they must be paid by the employer.
• Workers on 457 visas to be paid in Australia and in Australian dollars.
• Deductions for accommodation to be no more than the market rate.
It must be remembered that the over-reliance on 457 visas highlights the failure of the Howard Government to invest properly in training and skills development for the nation over the last ten years.
Another consequence of their failure is that there are very real concerns that interest rates will be forced up for a third time this year.
Media contacts: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784
24 October 2006
The recent problems a group of Filipino guest workers experienced at Brisbane firm Dartbridge Welding highlight the inadequacies of the checking procedures.
By its own admission the Federal Immigration Department is struggling to check compliance of sponsoring employers, only 62% were checked in 2004/2005, down from 96.6% in 2003/2004.
In the past year around 40,000 workers were brought into Australia on these temporary working visas.
The Queensland Government also calls on the Federal Government to establish a review of the regional certifying bodies. These bodies play an important role in ensuring the integrity of the system and any conflicts of interest must not be allowed to influence decision making.
In some cases the certifying body may be a Chamber of Commerce and they will be required to deal with matters involving their own members, strict protocols need to be developed to ensure the decision making process remains transparent.
Mr. Mickel said the Federal Government needs to introduce the following measures to ensure that the visas system is not abused and that the visas are not used to drive down employment conditions in Australia.
• Prior to approving any 457 visas the employer should have advertised for a period of 28 days with a job network provider
• Visas not to be approved if the employer has had redundancies in the past 12 months
• Visas not to be approved to replace workers taking protected legal industrial action
• Employers seeking to have 457 visa workers must employ apprentices/trainees or sponsor training of existing workers to ensure that skills shortage is not ongoing.
• Must ensure that the hourly rate for the calculation of overtime is the minimum salary level divided by 38.
• Ban labour hire firms from using 457 visas.
• Migration fees can’t be passed on to the migrant worker, they must be paid by the employer.
• Workers on 457 visas to be paid in Australia and in Australian dollars.
• Deductions for accommodation to be no more than the market rate.
It must be remembered that the over-reliance on 457 visas highlights the failure of the Howard Government to invest properly in training and skills development for the nation over the last ten years.
Another consequence of their failure is that there are very real concerns that interest rates will be forced up for a third time this year.
Media contacts: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784
24 October 2006