Australia is to end a decade-old freeze on the minimum wage for skilled migrant workers as part of an overhaul of what the government yesterday described as a broken migration system that fosters exploitation and favors attracting low-paid employees over filling critical skill shortages.
“What has emerged is a system where it is increasingly easy for migrants to come to Australia in search of a low-paid job, but increasingly difficult for migrants with the skills that we desperately need,” Australian Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil said. “One of the reasons there is so much exploitation in Australia is because we have allowed low-wage migration programs to operate in the shadows.”
Australia has long had one of the highest rates of immigration of any country within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. However, the migrant workforce that used to settle permanently has become increasingly temporary.
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The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) had been frozen by a previous government at A$53,900 (US$35,669) a year since 2013.
A new minimum wage of A$70,000 would apply from July 1, O’Neil said.
A government statement released yesterday said that “around 90% of all full-time jobs in Australia are now paid more than the current TSMIT, undermining Australia’s skilled migration system.”
The Australian economy was “stuck in a productivity rut” that migrant workers could help resolve, O’Neil said.
All temporary skilled workers in Australia, many of whom had become “permanently temporary migrants” living on various visas in the country for years, would be given clearer pathways to permanent residency by the end of the year, she said.
Speaking to the National Press Club, O’Neil criticized outdated preferred occupation lists that no longer reflect the needs of the economy or emerging technology industries, among other aspects of the migration system under the previous government that ruled for nine years until May last year.
“Our migration system is suffering from a decade of genuinely breathtaking neglect,” she said. “It is broken, it is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves. And, most important of all, it is failing Australians.”
O’Neil commissioned a review in November last year of Australia’s migration program that found 1.8 million temporary migrants were living within a national population of 26 million.
“It is not in Australia’s national interest to maintain a large proportion of temporary entrants with no pathway to citizenship as it undermines our democratic resilience and social cohesion,” the review said.
In September last year, the government increased its permanent immigration intake to 195,000 — an increase of 35,000 — for the current fiscal year that ends on June 30, as the nation grapples with skills and labor shortages.
Australia’s unemployment rate last month was 3.5 percent, which many consider maximum employment.
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