Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] by leave—This report is about getting the skilled migration program ready for Australia's post-pandemic recovery, ensuring the program continues to serve Australia's needs. This inquiry was referred in February 2021, and in March we presented an interim report responding to immediate issues raised by the pandemic and how we might attract outstanding global talent to Australia.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia shut its borders to the world. As a result, more than half a million temporary migrants left our shores. Many of those temporary migrants were skilled migrants. Net overseas migration continues to be in negative territory, with a further 77,000 people expected to leave Australia in the 2021-22 financial year. The lack of skilled migrants and near record low unemployment have resulted in major skill shortages in the Australian economy, impacting the viability of business. Even despite lockdowns, today's job ad figures are up 38 per cent on pre-COVID rates.

The committee received evidence of significant skill shortages emerging in the economy during the pandemic and the importance of skilled migrants in creating more jobs for Australians. Restaurateur Chris Lucas outlined the impact skill shortages are having on his business and its ability to create jobs. He told the committee:

We can't get the sushi chefs so we can't open the restaurant at all. Every sushi master that comes into the restaurant trains another five or six young Australian chefs, so it's starting to impact on our ability to train local people, to bring them up to local standard.

In order to address critical labour shortages during the pandemic, the government established the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List, or PMSOL. In the interim report, the committee recommended that the government include a broader range of occupations on the PMSOL, including veterinarians, chefs and civil and electrical engineers. The government implemented these recommendations and have added more than 20 occupations to the PMSOL.

The final report builds on the interim report and seeks to place the skilled migration program in context. The final report considers whether the skilled migration settings are serving Australia's interests, and its tradition of being selective about who we take in, while ensuring businesses can get the skills they need. Skilled migration is one of the policy levers that governments can use to address skill shortages. Other levers include higher education, vocational education and employment services programs. Andrew Kotzur, CEO of Kotzur silo manufacturers in regional New South Wales, told the committee:

Migration, including skilled migration, is only one part—albeit an important one—of the solution. Business and government also need to work together to grow the skills base, to reduce other constraints—let's call that the red tape—and improve the productivity of our existing labour and capital assets. The inflexibility, complexity and cost of the current migration system means it is less efficient and less effective than it could be.

The committee found that there needs to be greater coordination of effort across governments and across jurisdictions to clearly identify and quantify labour shortages and put in place the most appropriate policy response to address them. The committee recommends the development of a national workforce plan led by a cross-jurisdictional interagency committee to provide a more comprehensive picture of workforce gaps in our economy.

Another key issue that emerged during the inquiry was the role of the skilled occupation lists that underpin Australia's skilled migration program. Such lists need to be more flexible and responsive to workforce shortages. It's become clear that the Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, better known as ANZSCO, which was never designed to be used for the skilled migration program, is out of date, not fit for purpose and should be replaced by an alternative system to be developed by the National Skills Commission.

The committee heard that businesses are missing out on skilled migrants who may choose countries where the pathway to permanent residency is clearer. Ron Curry, from the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, told the committee:

The fact that these kinds of roles do not lead to permanent residency makes hiring senior and niche talent exceedingly difficult. The prospect of having to leave the country after a relatively short amount of time is less than enticing, in particular for the kind of senior talent that might've come with families.

The committee therefore recommends providing skilled migrants a clearer pathway to permanency but with conditions and length of time to permanency varying depending on skill level. The committee has addressed issues around the administration of the skilled migration program. We've recommended more incentives for migrants to move to regional Australia; encouragement for the brightest international students to remain to address persistent skill shortages; and streamlining processes and service improvements in the Department of Home Affairs.

I note that Labor have not dissented from this report, but they play politics in their additional comments. Labor's comments show they're not interested in regional Australia or the industries most affected by the economic impact of the pandemic. Labor remain divided on the 'no more migrants' dog whistling of Senator Keneally and the 'prioritise every non-economic migrant' of the member for Bruce. The coalition have spent years cleaning up Labor's mess. Labor's record on migration is bad, and we won't be taking advice from them.

Finally I want to take the opportunity to thank all my committee colleagues and everyone who has made a submission, assisted with a site visit or given evidence to this inquiry, as well as the secretariat and Annie Phillips from my office, for their work on this report. I commend the report to the House.

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