Visa tender threat to jobs
HOME Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has refused to guarantee 100 Tasmanian jobs at risk from moves to outsource visa processing services.
Labor Senator Lisa Singh has written to the Federal Government demanding it confirm no Tasmanian public service jobs be axed with a tender going out in July.
The Federal Opposition has accused the Turnbull Government of privatising visa services and putting national security at risk.
Labor says 250 jobs have already been outsourced with a contract already awarded to take over the immigration call centre.
It says another 2750 are at risk, including the 100 in Tasmania.
“Minister Dutton’s letter confirms that the Turnbull Government is engaging with market providers to outsource visa processing jobs,” Senator Singh told the Mercury.
“The Turnbull Government’s obsession with privatisation fails to treat Australia’s public servants with the respect they deserve in favour of outsourcing to multinationals.”
Mr Dutton did not address the Tasmanian jobs issue in his reply, but said the process was being modernised to deal with a big growth in demand.
“The Government is not privatising the visa system, visa application charge revenue or outsourcing responsibility for visa decision-making,” Mr Dutton said.
“The department will always retain responsibility and accountability for all visa decision-making.
“It will always retain control over and responsibility for decisions relating to national security.”
Senator Singh said the recent Federal Budget had already outsourced 1250 Centrelink jobs to Serco.
Federal public service jobs in the state have plummeted from 4239 in 2013 to the current 3468, the Opposition says, with 400 lost last year.
The recently announced relocation of six government bodies to regional areas failed to benefit Tasmania, despite a push from Liberal Senator Jonathon Duniam and State Treasurer Peter Gutwein.
Australia is expected to process 13 million visa applications per year within a decade, up from the current nine million.