Our priority is to move away from the focus on short-term migrants, toward permanency, citizenship and nation building, said an Australian minister
Canberra: The Australian government has committed to increasing the nation’s annual migration cap amid the current skills and labour shortage crisis, an IANS report in The Tribune, Chandigarh.
Clare O’Neil, the Minister for Home Affairs, on Friday said the permanent skilled migration rate for this financial year had been set at 160,000 places, and the new Labour government would increase that number to 195,000, reports Xinhua news agency.
Speaking on day two of the government’s Jobs and Skills summit, O’Neil said “almost everyone” agreed an increase in migration was needed to address labour shortages.
“I want to emphasise that one of Labour’s priorities is to move away from the focus on short-term migrants, toward permanency, citizenship and nation building,” she said.
Regional areas will welcome 34,000 new migrants for this year — an increase of 9,000 from the previous cap.
Extra places will also be allocated for healthcare workers, tech sector workers and workers with skills needed to deliver critical infrastructure.
The government on Friday also announced about A$36 million ($24 million) in funding to help clear the backlog of visa applications.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australian employers had become too reliant on temporary migrants.
“There’s also consensus that it’s not just about the numbers, but it’s about the make-up of our migration system, that we need to move towards more permanent migration rather than a reliance on temporary labour,” he said.
*********************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com