|
The priority processing of work permits for permanent IT workers was introduced by the Australian Government on 1 February 2001 to help address urgent shortages affecting Australian businesses at the time. The system gave foreign workers with IT skills preferential treatment in having their immigration applications processed. However, the Australian ICT market has fallen dramatically since the scheme was introduced and recent reports put the number of Australian IT workers out of work at 8,000.
| "There's an increasingly critical view of IT migration in Parliament here" | | Bob Kinnaird, author of the first independent ITC immigration report in Australia |
Philip Ruddock, the Australian Minister for Immigration, said: "Priority processing is not necessary in the light of those changed circumstances, but could be reactivated if there was a need in the future."
Mr Ruddock added he was awaiting the findings of the biannual national survey of ICT skills shortages to consider whether further initiatives were required.
The announcement follows the recent publication of the first critical report on the work permits system in the ICT sector by the Australian academic, Robert Kinnaird.
The study, entitled: 'Australia's migration policy and skilled ICT professionals: The case for an overhaul,' urged the Government to take on board the damage Mr Kinnaird believes the work permit system is doing to Australia's permanent and contracting sectors within the IT sector.
Mr Kinnaird told Shout99.com: "I'm pleased with the announcement, but you have to read between the lines because on first appearance it appears to have also suspended the system for the '457 visas programme.' Unfortunately, this is not the case, so the announcement's impact is less than it implies."
The Australia version of the UK 'fast track visa system' is divided into two sections, a section for permanent workers and another section that refers specifically to contractors which is the '457 visa programme' to which Mr Kinnaird refers.
He continued: "There's an increasingly critical view of IT migration in Parliament here and I think my report has probably accelerated this process. In the report, I provided a 'wish-list' of action that needs to be taken to reverse the damage the system has done to Australian IT. From that list, the next port of call for the Government should be to deal with the '457 programme' which affects IT contractors, which despite winding down somewhat over the last 12 months, still requires urgent action. The Government should also tie the skills '457' workers are allowed into the country to fill to the 'Migration Occupations Demand List', at present any foreign IT contractor can come and work here even if there are thousands of Australian contractors lining up to provide the same skills set."
--
Richard Powell, © Shout99.com 2002
|
