Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

At the time Ta Ann Tasmania Pty Ltd lodged its application for approval as a standard business sponsor for the 457 visa program it was required to demonstrate it satisfied the legislative requirements for becoming an approved sponsor including that it either:

had a satisfactory record of, or a demonstrated commitment towards, training Australian citizens or permanent residents in the business in Australia; or

would introduce to, or utilise or create in, Australia new or improved technology or business skills.

That is, it was required to meet one of the above requirements, not both. In being approved as a standard business sponsor, Ta Ann met all legislative requirements in place at the time a decision was made on the application.

Ta Ann's sponsorship agreement expired in April 2010. Ta Ann is not currently approved as a subclass 457 visa sponsor.

Should Ta Ann seek to lodge another sponsorship application, it would need to satisfy the requirements introduced by the Government on 14 September 2009 as part of its reforms to the subclass 457 visa program including:

rigorous training benchmarks requiring the investment of one per cent of payroll on training for employees or two per cent of payroll in a contribution into an industry training fund and

attesting in writing that they have a strong record of, or a demonstrated commitment to employing local labour and non-discriminatory employment practices.

It is a long-standing practice of the Government to consider commercial information provided to the Government by employers to be confidential. The Government does not disclose information about the commercial affairs of sponsors as this could adversely affect their business and prejudice the future supply of information to the Government.