Australia is to end a decade-old freeze on the minimum wage for skilled migrant workers as part of an overhaul of what the government yesterday described as a broken migration system that fosters exploitation and favors attracting low-paid employees over filling critical skill shortages.
“What has emerged is a system where it is increasingly easy for migrants to come to Australia in search of a low-paid job, but increasingly difficult for migrants with the skills that we desperately need,” Australian Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil said. “One of the reasons there is so much exploitation in Australia is because we have allowed low-wage migration programs to operate in the shadows.”
Australia has long had one of the highest rates of immigration of any country within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. However, the migrant workforce that used to settle permanently has become increasingly temporary.
Photo: AP
The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) had been frozen by a previous government at A$53,900 (US$35,669) a year since 2013.
A new minimum wage of A$70,000 would apply from July 1, O’Neil said.
A government statement released yesterday said that “around 90% of all full-time jobs in Australia are now paid more than the current TSMIT, undermining Australia’s skilled migration system.”
The Australian economy was “stuck in a productivity rut” that migrant workers could help resolve, O’Neil said.
All temporary skilled workers in Australia, many of whom had become “permanently temporary migrants” living on various visas in the country for years, would be given clearer pathways to permanent residency by the end of the year, she said.
Speaking to the National Press Club, O’Neil criticized outdated preferred occupation lists that no longer reflect the needs of the economy or emerging technology industries, among other aspects of the migration system under the previous government that ruled for nine years until May last year.
“Our migration system is suffering from a decade of genuinely breathtaking neglect,” she said. “It is broken, it is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves. And, most important of all, it is failing Australians.”
O’Neil commissioned a review in November last year of Australia’s migration program that found 1.8 million temporary migrants were living within a national population of 26 million.
“It is not in Australia’s national interest to maintain a large proportion of temporary entrants with no pathway to citizenship as it undermines our democratic resilience and social cohesion,” the review said.
In September last year, the government increased its permanent immigration intake to 195,000 — an increase of 35,000 — for the current fiscal year that ends on June 30, as the nation grapples with skills and labor shortages.
Australia’s unemployment rate last month was 3.5 percent, which many consider maximum employment.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
RSS