A new list of skilled occupations intended to replace Australia’s current Skilled Occupation List (SOL) has been released.

The new skills list has been developed based on advice from Skills Australia, an independent body established by the Federal Government to provide expert and independent advice on matters relating to Australia’s workforce skills and development needs.

This proposed list which takes effect from 1 July 2010 applies to the General Skilled Migration program, not to the Employer Sponsored Migration or Temporary Skilled Migration (457 visas) programs.

The introduction of the new skills list is intended to deliver a labour market demand-driven rather than supply-driven skilled migration program

Essentially only prospective migrants who are positively skills assessed in the occupations listed (as classified by the Australian and New Zealand Classification of Occupations) will be eligible, subject to meeting the relevant migration criteria, to apply for General Skilled Migration from the 2010-11 migration program year.

Importantly, the new skills list retains key health, engineering and trade occupations although the list has 181 occupations compared to 408 occupations previously.

In order to facilitate the transition from the current SOL to the new SOL, the Federal Government has taken the extraordinary measure to temporarily suspend further offshore General Skilled Migration applications being made from 8 May 2010 until the end of the 2009-10 program year.

For more information about
the new list go to
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm.

Members seeking further information can also contact CCI’s Ivan Hoe
(MARN 0318589) on (08) 9365 7618 or email ivan.hoe@cciwa.com.

Together with the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, CCI was asked by the State Government to work in partnership to develop WA’s Skilled Migration Strategy.

The Skilled Migration Strategy involves a policy framework to support migration to WA and an advocacy role for the State Government.

CCI manager, business policy Nathan Taylor said extensive consultation was undertaken with almost 200 people attending sessions to have their say on the strategy while a large number of businesses provided their views through an online survey.

Mr Taylor said a review by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship found Western Australia lacked articulated policies in key areas. In particular, the review found the State Government lacked the policy framework required to support population growth.

“To support migration into Western Australia, the State Government requires policies and programs that address population growth, attraction of migrants and their settlement into the economy and society more broadly,” he said.

“The migration program has experienced a number of significant changes that are likely to have an impact on Western Australian businesses capacity to attract suitable workers.

“The State Government has a role to advocate for changes that are in the best interest of the State.”

Numerous changes in the temporary and permanent migration program in response to economic and social pressures have resulted in a fragmented program overall.

“A comprehensive review should be conducted to ensure that Australia has a migration system that is capable of attracting suitably skilled individuals in an international labour market,” Mr Taylor said.

The contribution of temporary workers to WA has been great. Despite a number of years of extraordinary economic growth, WA has avoided inordinate price or wage pressures.

Mr Taylor said some features of the overall migration program still needed to be addressed to meet labour demand including market salary levels and the temporary skilled migration income threshold; skill assessment processes; the English language competence requirements; and a need for labour agreements to ensure industry has the capacity to attract suitable workers.

Minister for Training and Workforce Development Peter Collier said the partnership with CCI would help ensure additional labour requirements would be met for business.

“While the plan will focus on maximising opportunities for all Western Australians, targeted overseas and interstate migration will also be vital in alleviating the predicted future skill and labour shortages,” he said.

“The strategy will provide for a responsive, efficient and consistent approach to meeting the State’s skilled migration needs over the short to medium term, as WA enters a new phase in economic growth driven by a strong resources sector.

“A State-specific approach to migration policy will work hand-in-hand with a national system to ensure the best interests of WA are achieved.”

Policy needs for the Skilled Migration Strategy

Effective population policy requires:

• the State Government to establish aspirational population targets for the entire State, Perth and key regional centres;
• use the aspirational population targets to develop suitable social and economic infrastructure provision; and
• establish appropriate links between the population target and the State’s Workforce Development Plan so that specific migration intake targets, both international and interstate, can be established.

Attract a suitable quantity and quality of migrants to Western Australia will require:

• a campaign to achieve the aspirational population targets;
• focused campaigns towards interstate migrants, expatriate Australians, foreign students, and key trading partners; and
• a skills in demand survey that help inform the broader migration program as to key skill shortages in WA. 

Ensuring the smooth transition of migrants into the economy and society more broadly will require:

• developing a skills database for migrants;
• greater recognition of prior qualifications; and
• assistance to new migrants entering the country.

Major reforms to Australia’s General Skilled Migration program recently announced by the Federal Government, intended to deliver skills to meet demand from the states and territories, is unprecedented.

The proposed development of individual state and territory migration plans is without a doubt a significant and long overdue measure as part of the program’s much needed overhaul. These plans will allow each state and territory to prioritise skilled migrants as they decide.

Immediate revocation of the outdated Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) and the gradual phasing out of the Critical Skills List will pave the way for the development of a new Skilled Occupation List by Skills Australia, aimed at targeting ‘high-value’ professions and trades.

Combined with these changes will be a review of the program’s points test assessment system (which to date has been copied by the United Kingdom and other European countries) that will eventually result in its recalibration to help target high calibre skilled migrants to supplement the national skills base.

These migration reform measures are commendable as they aim to ensure that local labour market needs are met similarly to skill demands met by existing employer sponsored migration mechanisms.

However, along with these positive and progressive measures has been the decision by the Federal Government to withdraw Skilled Migration applications in the system that were lodged before September 2007. This is estimated to cost $14 million from a refund of visa application fees.

Under section 39 of the Migration Act 1958 the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has the power to set the maximum number of visas of a particular class that may be granted in a financial year. Once this number is reached, any application for that class of visa that has not been finalised is taken not to have been made.

Equitably or not, it means that some 20,000 would-be migrants who applied to migrate to Australia more than two years ago based on qualifying migration criteria existing at the time are unfortunately being purged from the system. 

This is nevertheless justified as a necessary measure and captured in the comments made by Senator Chris Evans in his address Changes to Australia’s skilled migration program to the Australia Demographic and Social Research Institute: “The old system served everyone in order, just like pulling a ticket number from the dispenser at the supermarket deli counter. That’s fine if you intend to serve everyone and people don’t mind waiting. But it doesn’t make sense when there is a limit on places and when we have immediate needs in our economy.”

It is crucial that the negative outcome for these would-be migrants neither engenders uncertainty nor adversely impacts on how Australia’s General Skilled Migration program is perceived by prospective migrants in ‘high-value’ professions and trades which it hopes to target through the reform that has been instigated.

Members seeking further information can contact CCI’s Ivan Hoe (MARN 0318589) on (08) 9365 7618 or ivan.hoe@cciwa.com.

By Ivan Hoe
CCI Migration Services Manager

With businesses worried by a return of severe labour shortages, the Federal Government’s new business migration strategy is a timely move to help local employers find and retain the workers they need.

The migration system must allow employers to hire overseas workers for positions that can’t be filled by locals as quickly, and easily, as possible.

The current system is not meeting the needs of local industry. CCI knows that some employers have had to wait up to six months to hire an overseas worker for a position they need filled now.

CCI is pleased the Federal Government’s new policy recognises the unique labour challenges faced by WA employers by allowing the State to develop its own migration plan.

CCI is working closely with the State Government to design a WA migration strategy. It will help local businesses get the workers they need as the State prepares for the next wave of economic growth and prosperity.

By John Nicolaou
CI Chief Officer,
Membership and Advocacy

With businesses worried by a return of severe labour shortages, the Federal Government’s new business migration strategy is a timely move to help local employers find and retain the workers they need.

The migration system must allow employers to hire overseas workers for positions that can’t be filled by locals as quickly, and easily, as possible.

The current system is not meeting the needs of local industry. CCI knows that some employers have had to wait up to six months to hire an overseas worker for a position they need filled now.

CCI is pleased the Federal Government’s new policy recognises the unique labour challenges faced by WA employers by allowing the State to develop its own migration plan.

CCI is working closely with the State Government to design a WA migration strategy. It will help local businesses get the workers they need as the State prepares for the next wave of economic growth and prosperity.

Major reforms to Australia’s General Skilled Migration program recently announced by the Federal Government, intended to deliver skills to meet demand from the states and territories, is unprecedented.

The proposed development of individual state and territory migration plans is without a doubt a significant and long overdue measure as part of the program’s much needed overhaul. These plans will allow each state and territory to prioritise skilled migrants as they decide.

Immediate revocation of the outdated Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) and the gradual phasing out of the Critical Skills List will pave the way for the development of a new Skilled Occupation List by Skills Australia, aimed at targeting ‘high-value’ professions and trades.

Combined with these changes will be a review of the program’s points test assessment system (which to date has been copied by the United Kingdom and other European countries) that will eventually result in its recalibration to help target high calibre skilled migrants to supplement the national skills base.

These migration reform measures are commendable as they aim to ensure that local labour market needs are met similarly to skill demands met by existing employer sponsored migration mechanisms.

However, along with these positive and progressive measures has been the decision by the Federal Government to withdraw Skilled Migration applications in the system that were lodged before September 2007. This is estimated to cost $14 million from a refund of visa application fees.

Under section 39 of the Migration Act 1958 the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has the power to set the maximum number of visas of a particular class that may be granted in a financial year. Once this number is reached, any application for that class of visa that has not been finalised is taken not to have been made.

Equitably or not, it means that some 20,000 would-be migrants who applied to migrate to Australia more than two years ago based on qualifying migration criteria existing at the time are unfortunately being purged from the system. 

This is nevertheless justified as a necessary measure and captured in the comments made by Senator Chris Evans in his address Changes to Australia’s skilled migration program to the Australia Demographic and Social Research Institute: “The old system served everyone in order, just like pulling a ticket number from the dispenser at the supermarket deli counter. That’s fine if you intend to serve everyone and people don’t mind waiting. But it doesn’t make sense when there is a limit on places and when we have immediate needs in our economy.”

It is crucial that the negative outcome for these would-be migrants neither engenders uncertainty nor adversely impacts on how Australia’s General Skilled Migration program is perceived by prospective migrants in ‘high-value’ professions and trades which it hopes to target through the reform that has been instigated.

Members seeking further information can contact CCI’s Ivan Hoe  (MARN 0318589) on (08) 9365 7618 or ivan.hoe@cciwa.com.

All indicators point to another wave of skilled labour shortages in Western Australia with several massive resource and energy projects coming on stream.

According to research by CCI, WA will need to find an extra 400,000 workers over the next ten years, with a likely shortfall of 150,000 if there are no measures to grow the workforce.

Experience from the last wave of skilled labour shortages in Western Australia indicates that employers are going to need to develop better strategies to stand any chance of filling some vacancies in the future especially when looking to fill positions that do not pay the high levels usually associated with the resources sector.

The CCI Skills Match service was introduced a few years ago to assist members to identify and verify
skilled personnel from around Australia and overseas. 

In readiness for the next wave of shortages, CCI has now entered into an alliance with CareerOne.com.au to power CCI Skills Match. This new, dynamic service will provide businesses with greater assistance in the difficult, time consuming and expensive search for skilled labour.

When subscribing to the CCI Skills Match Database users will have additional access to the CareerOne Resume Database with over 500,000 CVs from Australian residents as well as the ability to search globally for the skilled workers outside of Australia.

CCI Skills Match can also undertake tailored programs for members which may include CV database interrogation, overseas market research/advertising, representation at appropriate overseas skilled migration events and interviewing of applicants to shortlist stage.

Employers will also be able to post their job vacancies on the CCI and CareerOne web sites through our special alliance which provides one low cost job listing and double the exposure (over 1.6 million unique browsers).

Changes have been made in the pre-migration skills assessment requirements to ensure that individuals applying to migrate permanently to Australia are ‘job-ready’.

The changes affect requirements for managerial, administrative, professional and associate professional occupations.

Effective from 1 January 2010, VETASSESS, the designated skills recognition authority for some 200 occupations under the General Skilled Migration program and Employer Nomination Scheme, has revised its assessment criteria to require prospective migrants to have the relevant skills and experience in their nominated occupations in addition to formal qualifications.

For occupations requiring a qualification assessed at an Australian Bachelor degree level in the same field (A Group), an applicant has to have at least one year of relevant employment experience at the appropriate level.

For occupations requiring qualifications assessed at an Australian Bachelor degree level in a relevant field (B Group), an applicant has to have at least one year of relevant employment experience at the appropriate level or either two or three years relevant employment if their qualification is identified as having a shortfall in content relevance.

For occupations requiring a qualification assessed as comparable to either an Australian Diploma (C Group) or Australian Certificate IV (D Group) in a relevant field, an applicant has to have at least one year of relevant employment experience at the appropriate level or two years relevant employment experience if their qualification is identified as having a shortfall in content relevance.

These changes are consistent with the Federal Government’s recent measures to help ensure that skilled migrants have, and in certain cases demonstrate, the skills claimed. 

Members seeking further information can contact CCI Migration Services (MARN 0318589) on (08) 9365 7618 or email ivan.hoe@cciwa.com.