The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce (VACC) is calling on the Federal Government to include much needed tradespeople in the ‘Specialist Skills Pathway’ process of its newly released Migration Strategy.
VACC says currently this pathway is not available to tradespeople in the new Australian Government Migration Strategy.
“Restricting tradespeople from this category will likely mean priorities will go to applicants who can’t do things like fixing the brakes on a car,” VACC chief executive Geoff Gwilym says.
“VACC and the national automotive peak body, the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA), have for some time pointed out the time lags and speed humps that need to be tackled to get tradespeople into the country.”
VACC welcomes the overarching principles of the review, but says the specialist skills fast-track process should extend to trades once the model is proven.
“If we can fast-track specialist skills personnel, then why not trade applicants as well,” Gwilym says.
VACC says new four-year visas are welcome, as this gives stability to workers, their families and employers.
However, it says extending the capacity for sponsored migrant workers to more easily move between employers needs strong safeguards to ensure rogue business owners don’t poach sponsored migrants from company’s who have invested time and money to locate and support the movement of these workers into their operations.
“The last thing we want to see is a dispute between employers about who will pay the fees and costs associated with attracting a sponsored worker who is actively coached to move to another employer,” Gwilym says.
