Causing significant concern is the government’s plan to tighten the cap on working holiday visas, which could lead to a significant workforce shortage in agricultural industries.
The health industry has also expressed concern on how the changes could impact on the use of overseas trained staff to meet critical need.
In his address to the National Press Club on Thursday, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Tony Burke said the migration reforms were designed to tighten control over migration numbers, curb visa misuse and better align the intake of migrants with the nation’s economic and housing needs.
But NSW member for Murray Helen Dalton said the reality of his plan would place rural and regional Australia in a choke hold.
In relation to working holiday visas, backpackers seeking a second or third year in Australia will still need to complete regional work requirements, but will now be subject to a ballot system.
Second-year visas will be capped at 45,000 places (down from 57,000 last year), while third-year visas will be limited to just 5000 places, a substantial reduction the 31,000 granted last year.
“This ballot system will rob rural Australia of the workers we need to run our irrigation communities,” Ms Dalton said.
“Does the federal government really think our communities can survive if we lose our foreign workers?
“We don’t have a problem with immigration numbers in rural Australia, so why are we being asked to suffer these losses?
“Rural NSW should not be punished because Australia’s capital cities are overcrowded.”
The major overhaul of the migration system will also include changes to the skilled migration points test, that will give greater weight to occupations critical to Australia’s workforce shortages.
Construction and housing trades will receive a significant boost, with trade qualifications in these fields effectively treated on par with university degrees to attract more workers into the sector.
The government will also tighten rules for international students, who will no longer be able to automatically bring family members with them on most student and graduate visas. Exceptions will apply to some groups, including PhD candidates and certain students from Pacific and ASEAN nations.
In an effort to tackle so-called ‘visa hopping’, students seeking to continue their studies in Australia will only be permitted to move to a higher qualification level, rather than repeatedly enrolling in new or lower-level courses to extend their stay.
Mr Burke said the reforms are intended to restore integrity to the migration system while ensuring Australia continues to attract the workers and skills needed to support economic growth.
The National Farmers Federation estimates that overseas workers make up about half of Australia’s peak harvest casual workforce.
Mrs Dalton has joined with industry groups in calling on the government to reverse the changes to working holidaymaker and skilled visas so that food and fibre production in rural Australia can continue.
“Without these workers, food production levels in this country will fall off a cliff,” Ms Dalton said.
“Without immigration, the fruit literally drops to the ground and dies.
“We need foreign workers in rural Australia and we always will.”
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