Meeting Australia's Labour Needs: The Case for a New Low-Skill Work Visa
| Author | Alexander Reilly,Joanna Howe |
| DOI | 10.22145/flr.43.2.4 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MEETING AUSTRALIA'S LABOUR NEEDS: THE CASE FOR A
NEW LOW-SKILL WORK VISA
Joanna Howe* and Alexand er Reilly**
ABSTRACT
This article examines whether Australia's regulatory settings for temporary migrant
labour are working effectively and argues t hat a backdoor currently exists which permits
the entry of low skilled migrant workers on visas which are not for a work purpose,
namely the international stud ent visa and the working holiday maker visa. We propose
that an explicit visa pathway be created for low and semi-skilled workers so that the
working conditions of the se visa holders are more appropriately monit ored and to
enable Australia's temporary labour migration pr ogram to better meet skill shortages in
the economy.
I INTRODUCTION
In this article we critique the regulatory framework for temporary low skilled and semi-
skilled labour migration and offer suggestions for its reform. Recent events have made
such a review particularly pressing: First, there are high and increasing numbers of
international student and working holiday visa hold ers with work rights in a time of
rising youth u nemployment in Australia;1 second, there is increased reporting of
inappropriate use of the 457 visa strea m to employ low and semi-skilled workers;2 and
third, in August the government completed a new form of labour agreement, a
Designated Area Migration Agreement, which enables regional areas, states and
territories to negotiate an agreement-based framework, through whic h employers can
access skilled and semi-skilled temporary migrant la bour and apply for salary and
English language concessions.3
* Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Law School and Consultant, Harmers Workplace
Lawyers.
** Associate Professor, University of Adelaide Law School.
1 Youth unemployment is at a 12 year high of 2.9 per cent, for people aged between 15-24:
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Catalogue No 6202.0: Labour Force, Australia (April 2014)
<http://www.abs.gov.a u/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/62 02.0>.
2 Melbourne Investigations Section, Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
VRQA/DEEWR/DIAC Rapid Audit Project: DIAC Final Report (7 October 2009)
<http://www.theage.com. au/interactive/2014/bro kenBorders/pdfs/report6 .pdf>.
3 Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Designated Area Migration Agreements
260 Federal Law Review Volume 43
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Temporary labour migration is increa singly significant, as globalisatio n dismantles
the boundaries around national labour markets. Indeed, geographers have observed
dramatic shifts in patterns of migration in recent decades, most notably from permanent
to temporary migration in developed economies. Up to the 1990s, Australia eschewed
temporary labour migration programs. As late as 2005, Prime-Minister John Howard
rejected calls for a Pacific Seasonal W orker scheme, stating, '[w]e have always had a
preference for permanent settlement or permanent migration'.4 However, this belied
changes that were already well under way in Australian migration policy. In 1996, the
Howard Coalition government introduced the su bclass 457 visa program which aims to
address skill shortages in the domestic econo my by allowing employers to sponsor
foreign workers in specified occupa tions for up to four years. 5 Although the mainstay
of the 457 visa is the sponsorship of highly skilled workers, the labour agreements
stream also allows for the sp onsorship of semi-skilled workers. In 2008, the Rudd Labor
Government introduced a Pacific Seasonal Worker Scheme to allow workers from select
Pacific Island countries to work in the Australian horticultural industry for up t o seven
months.
In a 2013 report on labour migration programs in 46 nations around the world,
Martin Ruhs found that only Australia, Sweden and Denmark did not have dedicated
low skill worker programs. 6 Australia also had one of the lowest scores for t he openness
of its labour migration programs.7 However, these statistics do not tell the whole story.
Since the 1990s, a large a nd growing amount of low and se mi-skilled work in Australia
has been undertaken by young migrants on Working Holiday and Inter national Student
visas, which are not subject to the same regulatory constraints as the subclass 457 visa.
Numbers in these categories have grown dramatically in the last decade providing a
source of unskilled labour to industries i n all sectors. These visa classes are not included
in Ruhs' study because they are considered to be for a primary purpose other than work.
The use of international stud ents and working holiday ma kers in the labour market
has meant the Australian governme nt has not faced the need to introduce a dedicated
low skill work visa. As a result, the government has been relieved of the need to counter
the public perception that low skilled migrant labour is ex ploitative and suppresses local
wages. We believe this historical aver sion to low skilled labour migration is not likely to
be a barrier to the creation of a low skilled visa pathway in the future. In the past 20
years, the Australian public has had considerable exposure to migrant workers through
the international student and working holiday maker programs. There is a greater
appreciation of the contri bution of recent migrant s, including of migrants th rough
humanitarian visa pathways, to the Australian econ omy. There is also a much greater
awareness and acceptance among the public of the existence of dedicated labour
migration programs, including the 457 visa and the Pacific Seasonal worker scheme.
Furthermore, the case for introducing a ded icated low skilled labour migration pathway
can be made convincingly to allay pu blic concerns, in particular: the fact that it is foc used
(August 2014) <www.border.gov.au/WorkinginAustralia/Documents/dama.pdf>.
4 ABC Radio, 'Howard Rejects Seasonal Worker Plan', AM, 26 October 2005 (John Howard).
5 The 457 visa was introduced by the Howard Coalition Government on 1 August 1996,
through the insertion of a new Pt 457 in Sch 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth): see
Migration Regulations (Amendment) 1996 No 76 (Cth).
6 Martin Ruhs, The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration (Princeton
University Press, 2013) Appendix 1, Table A1, 201–2.
7 Ibid Appendix 1, Table A3, 203–5.
To continue reading
Request your trial