Skills shortage to open gates
LABOR will look to speed up immigration pathways for skilled workers as data reveals 31 per cent of occupations are considered in demand.
The number of professions on the skills priority list, which is used to inform government policy on training and migration, has leapt from 153 to 286 over the past year.
Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor said Australia was grappling with the “really difficult challenge” of a “remarkable” surge in industries searching for workers.
“We need to have a much faster way of delivering on the skilled migration pathways for industries that are crying out for skills,” Mr O’Connor told ABC TV.
“And whether they be nurses or tech workers or baggage handlers, wherever you look across the economy, there are shortages and it is a very significant priority of this government.”
The Government has committed to improving migration pathways, including in the short-term to meet acute demand, as well as investing in the education and training of local workers.
Mr O’Connor will meet his state and territory counterparts in Melbourne on Friday to hash out a shared funding agreement with the aim of solving the skills crisis.
More progress is expected on the $1.1bn agreement announced at the Jobs and Skills Summit to fund an extra 180,000 fee-free TAFE places.
It was also unveiled at the summit that Australia’s permanent migration cap would be lifted from 160,000 to a record 195,000 places this year, and $36.1m would be spent on a surge workforce to clear a visa backlog of almost one million workers.
Mr O’Connor also accused the Coalition of failing to plan over the past decade.