Posted
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the federal government’s crackdown on the 457 visa scheme is getting bad publicity in Asia. And it fears damage to Australia’s reputation and a backlash against Australian workers and companies in Australia. ACCI says a handful of businesses have not complied with the scheme’s rules but the scale of the problem is being exaggerated in an election year.
Source: AM
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Duration: 2min 43sec
Topics:
immigration,
industrial-relations,
federal-government,
work,
australia
Transcript
ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has slammed the Government’s crack-down on the 457 visa scheme.
The Chamber says Australia’s reputation in Asia is being damaged by the furore.
And it’s warned that Australian workers and companies might face a significant backlash.
Samantha Donovan reports.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peter Anderson, says he’s disturbed by the reception the Federal Government’s crack-down on the 457 visa scheme is getting in parts of Asia.
PETER ANDERSON: Coming through transit in Singapore and seeing The Straits Times indicate a blaring headline that says: “Canberra is closing the door to migrants ahead of elections”. And as if that was not bad enough, it then had that story with the views of the Government and the Prime Minister then juxtaposed with an adjoining story about Pauline Hanson attempting to make a comeback to Australian politics on the back of this skilled migration issue.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Peter Anderson says such publicity may result in a backlash against Australian businesses and workers in Asia.
PETER ANDERSON: We have many thousands of Australian skilled workers in Asian countries, living in Asian cities where they want to have, you know, the full opportunity and confidence of local communities to go about doing their work in the construction industry and the legal industry, in professional services industries. And if we are going to describe skilled workers from Asia working in Australia as somehow foreigners, somehow people that need to be at the bottom of the queue, then Australians working in Asia, they don’t want to somehow also to be stigmatised as being, you know, second rate or foreigners who need to be put down the bottom of the queue.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Anderson says he doesn’t agree with most of the changes to the 457 visa scheme announced by the Government, but respects the right for the matter to be debated.
He acknowledges that some businesses haven’t been following the scheme’s rules.
PETER ANDERSON: There is some evidence that a handful of businesses are abusing the scheme and not applying to the rules that have been set by the Government. And those businesses need to be called to account and the regulatory authorities need to take action. But what’s completely unfair is for the public to get the impression that this scheme either doesn’t have rules or has rules that are out of control; or that the people who are working in jobs under this scheme are doing so at the expense of Australians or lowering the wages of Australians.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: That’s Peter Anderson, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry speaking there to AM’s Samantha Donovan.
ACCI slams 457 visa crackdown
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