Call for skills import

AUSTRALIA should boost its skilled migrant intake by more than a quarter of a million people over the next five years, create a new “digital nomad” visa, and even proactively target experts in their field and attempt to convince them to migrate, professional services firm KPMG says.

And not only that, we should ask those migrants who else they think should come.

In a submission to the federal Department of Home Affairs, KPMG says while the increase in permanent migration visas from 160,000 to 190,000 announced in September was welcome, more needs to be done to address skills shortages particularly in areas such as cyber and clean energy.

The firm says a 265,000 migrant increase, starting with another 25,000 people this financial year and an additional 60,000 for four further years, would boost real GDP by almost $30bn.

“Australia must regain its place as one of the most attractive skilled migrant destinations in the world if our economy is to remain competitive and achieve real productivity and wages growth,’’ KPMG says in its report.

“The permanent and employer-sponsored skilled visa systems have ongoing challenges for migrants and employers due to migration cuts before Covid-19, the exodus of temporary workers due to border closures, short term visas with no or protracted pathways to permanency, outdated and restrictive occupation lists, poor market testing and burdensome administration.’’

KPMG has made 16 recommendations, including the targeting of high-value individuals, who can then suggest other skilled migrants.

It suggests the cyber sector in particular could benefit from this approach.

“One approach of addressing these challenges could be to leverage the Global Talent Visa by directly approaching leading professionals from overseas; for example cyber experts, who could migrate to Australia,’’ KPMG says.

“Along with their own expert knowledge, these professionals could then nominate teams of other experts to bring with them in order to address skills gaps in the sector.’’

KPMG says the Global Talent Visa is complex to navigate and the process is lengthy. It has been reported previously that in its first full year of operation in 2019-20 the vast, majority of the successful applicants were already living in Australia, and it has consistently fallen short of its targeted intake.

KPMG’s suggested model would involve pre-approved recruiters identifying candidates, and “invit(ing) them to apply for the pre-approved ... visa, which would be issued subject to mandatory health and character checks’’.

“To further leverage from this streamlined pathway, the pre-approved applicant would also be invited to nominate similarly qualified experts in the priority occupation.

“This approach recognises that there is often a community of experts in certain priority occupations.’’