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Government looks to fix ‘very significant problems’
Three migration experts, whose appointments were announced this week, will begin their thorough assessment of Australia’s migration system early next year, with the goal of informing a “new national strategy" to improve the efficiency with which skilled migrants may enter the country.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil stated on ABC Radio National on Monday that there are “quite major flaws with the immigration system" that require fixing and that the revision will “get back to first principles."
Asking, “Why are we bringing people to Australia?" Can you briefly outline the major issues where we might use some assistance? — O’Neil.
And how can we create a system that is low-cost, quick to implement, user-friendly, and effective in attracting talented individuals who are interested in making Australia their home?
In reaction to a study by the Nine Times that indicated organised crime networks were blatantly gaming the system to conduct a network of sex trafficking, drug imports, and worker exploitation, the Home Affairs Minister publicly criticised the existing status of the immigration system.
In an interview with Nine, O’Neil lamented the current system, saying, “We’ve ended up with a system where there are gigantic visa lineups and where the individuals who truly legitimately want to utilize the system can’t properly use it."
It’s time for a shift in the way things are done here.
Dr. Martin Parkinson, Chancellor of Macquarie University and a former Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr. Joanna Howe, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide and an acknowledged migration expert, and John Azarias, a former member of the Ministerial Advisory Council for Skilled Migration, will steer the review.
O’Neil hinted that everything would be on the table during the review, including the skilled occupation list, which she claimed wasn’t founded on facts.
Amidst growing awareness of the need for stronger cyber security in the wake of the Optus and Medibank breaches, the Minister for Home Affairs announced last week that tech skills visas would no longer be prioritised. This decision was met with widespread opposition from the IT industry, which includes cyber security specialists.
O’Neill’s visa reforms, according to Secure Code Warrior co-founder and CEO Pieter Danhieux, would “create new hiring hurdles that just shouldn’t exist."
Businesses who are actively working to improve their own security standards, strengthen their security posture, and organise the personnel and assets necessary to create more secure software will feel the effects of this, he warned.
Despite government efforts to protect jobs in Australia, “this decision will merely drive Aussie startups and scale-ups to hire elsewhere."
Despite the government’s repeated requests for additional tech skills to overcome short-term skills gaps, the plan to de-prioritise computer skills visas seems to run against the government’s goal of employing 1.2 million people in the tech industry by 2030.
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