Employers slam tightening of 457 visa rules

Aged care provider peak bodies say the government’s reforms to the 457 visa system, which passed through parliament on Friday, will create an unnecessary regulatory burden on employers and will impede the capacity of the sector to fill vacancies.

By Linda Belardi.

Aged care provider peak bodies say the government’s reforms to the 457 visa system will create an unnecessary regulatory burden on employers and will impede the capacity of the sector to fill vacancies.

ACSA CEO John Kelly said the reintroduction of labour market testing for the 457 visa scheme was “regulatory overkill”.

He said the evidence did not support the government’s claims that the scheme was being “abused” by employers and that local workers were being disadvantaged. 

The new laws, which passed through Parliament on Friday, will require businesses to supply evidence that they have tried to recruit locally before they can apply to sponsor an overseas worker.

Mr Kelly said providers were always looking to recruit local staff as a first priority. “It is in their interests to employ people who are part of the local community, but if the staff cannot be recruited, there must be streamlined ways for providers to meet that need,” he told AAA.

ACSWA CEO Stephen Kobelke said the laws were an “overreaction” from government and were impractical considering the significant shortages in nursing and allied health workers faced by the sector. 

Mr Kobelke said that without the 457 visa program to supplement the local workforce many aged care providers, especially in rural areas, would have closed down.

“Providers look to 457 visas if the market is not able to provide the staff that they need in aged care and providers need to be able to move to that option quickly when necessary. This legislation is just another layer of regulation that wasn’t required,” he said. 

The former Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Brendan O’Connor said on Friday that the market testing requirements would be straightforward and that many employers were already taking steps to ensure that locals were available to fill vacancies first.

Under the new laws, which passed the lower house by one vote, labour market testing will be undertaken across all skill shortage areas with some exemptions and will also be extended to those cases where there was a redundancy or retrenchment.

In the context of continuing underemployment of local nursing and midwifery graduates, Australian Nursing Federation Federal Secretary, Lee Thomas said the reforms were a welcome improvement to the scheme.

“The ANF has long been concerned that the use of 457 work visas to bring in workers from overseas could undermine training and job opportunities for local nursing and midwifery professionals,” she said.

The legislation will mandate that employers must advertise a job position locally before they can use the 457 program. 300 Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors will also be granted powers to investigate any possible rorting of the scheme. 

Consulting and financial advisory group Deloitte said the labour market testing requirements could create substantial issues for employers, including delays in the processing of sponsorship applications.

According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, healthcare is second only to construction in the number of applications made for 457 visas. In the seven months to 31 January 2013, sponsors in the Healthcare and Social Assistance sector lodged 4,800 temporary work visa applications.

Many aged care providers said they support the 457 visa scheme and have called for it to be expanded to include enrolled nurses on the skilled occupation list.

Tags: 457-visa, anf, overseas-workers, workforce,

2 thoughts on “Employers slam tightening of 457 visa rules

  1. Agmaroy Nursing Home has filled several RN positions over the last few years with sponored 457 visa holders which we had been unable to fill with Australian RN’s despite extensive advertising and hosting work experiene for students undertaking Diplomas in Nursing. As it is increasing difficult to recruit non experienced RN’s into the Aged Care Sector and of a consequence it is even more difficult to recruit RN’s experienced in Aged Care

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