Australia announces changes to 457 visa program
City of Sydney - From photo clips of The Filipino Australian
The measures include government responses to recommendations from the Deegan Review into the integrity of the 457 visa program.
Last year, AIRC Commissioner Barbara Deegan was appointed by the government to review the integrity of the 457 visa program. The review addressed widespread concerns of exploitations and abuses in the skilled visa program.
The seven measures are:
1. The indexation of the minimum salary level (MSL) for all new and existing 457 visa holders by 4.1% on 1 July 2009.
2. The implementation of a market based minimum salary for all new and existing 457 visa holders from mid September 2009.
3. Increasing the existing minimum language requirement from 4.5 IELTS to 5 IELTS for 457 visa applicants in trade occupations and chefs.
4. Progressively introducing formal skills assessment from 1 July 2009 for 457 visa applicants from high risk immigration countries in trade occupations and chefs.
5. Introducing a requirement that employers seeking access to the 457 visa program have a strong record of employing local labour and non-discriminatory employment practices.
6. The development of training benchmarks to clarify the existing requirement on employers to demonstrate a commitment to training local labour.
7. The extension of the labour agreement pathway to all ASCO 5 – 7 occupations, to ensure that employers using the 457 visa program to access these occupations satisfy obligations on local training and employment.
The slowdown in the Australian economy in the wake of the global financial crisis and the subsequent decline in demand for 457 visas have not diminished the need to implement these measures to restore public confidence in the program, the government said. #
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Measures mainly to protect local labor. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose.
It must be remembered the push for the 4.1% wage increase and better conditions for 457 visa workers. Was won only by the work of 457 union members and their union like the AMWU. Well done to those workers who have chosen smartly to become a member of a union like the AMWU and improve their lives.
S Gordon – Thank you for your comments. The role of AMWU in helping improve the work conditions of 457 visa workers and in helping bring about the wage increase is acknowledged. The report of AIRC commissioner Ms Barbara Deegan in her review of the integrity of the 457 visa program stated thus:
” In its submission to Issues Paper #1 the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) suggested that the MSL is an inadequate mechanism ‘due to the significant gap between actual market rates in many trade occupations and the MSL. There is strong evidence that a significant proportion of workers on 457 visas are paid below the market rate for their occupation, placing downward pressure on wages in the market.”
Again, thanks for commenting.
Thank you for the information, I will forward to our members here in Lismore.