The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has vowed Labor “will always prioritise jobs for Australians” as the government eyes increasing the migration cap potentially to 200,000 places per year.
A boost from the current annual migration intake of 160,000 will be on the table at the federal government’s jobs and skills summit next month.
About 100 business, union and political leaders will attend the summit from 1-2 September in Canberra. The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has confirmed he will attend, joining the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Nationals leader, David Littleproud. Peter Dutton could therefore be the only major party leader to not accept a seat at the table.
Business groups have raised concerns about a shortfall of skilled workers in critical industries such as health, trades, manufacturing and tech, amid historically low unemployment rates. Nine newspapers on Sunday reported the migration number could be increased to between 180,000 and 200,000 a year to attract more skilled foreign workers.
The government would not confirm that number on Sunday, with a spokesperson for O’Neil, who has carriage over immigration, saying no final decision had been made.
“We will be considering a range of options as we listen to unions and business make their arguments at the jobs summit,” the spokesperson said. “We will always prioritise jobs for Australians, and our migration intake will be considered alongside our significant commitments on skills and training.”
The skills and training minister, Brendan O’Connor, said the jobs summit was geared to ensure the economy was “not held back by skills shortages”, flagging the need to boost both skilled migration and better equipping Australian workers.
“One of the biggest challenges facing businesses is they are struggling to find workers with the skills for the jobs available,” he said in a statement.
“The answer is not a binary choice between skilled migration and training the local workforce – both are needed. Owing to a decade of inaction, the challenges have grown, as has the need for planning and a coordinated national response to skills and labour shortages.”
The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, last week told ABC radio “it’s pretty clear that we need a bigger workforce”.
“Training is obviously a hugely important part of that – skills and education, they’ll be a key focus at the summit,” he said. “There’s a role for migration to play too, but not as a substitute for those other two things.”
The federal Coalition backed expanding migration numbers but said Australian workers must be “first in the queue” for new jobs.
“Immigration was a key driver of our economic growth before Covid and it must be central to our post-Covid economic recovery,” a spokesperson said. “The Labor government must ensure its immigration policy benefits the Australian community.”
The opposition also called on the government to adopt its policy to allow older Australians to work more hours before it affects their pension entitlements.
The Labor state government in Victoria and the Coalition in New South Wales backed increasing the nation’s skilled migration intake.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, noted his government was making large investments in vocational training. He said both migration plus proper funding of schools and training were critical.
“I’m all for lifting that and for more and more people coming and making their home in Melbourne, Victoria, the rest of the country,” he told a press conference on Sunday.
“It’s not like this [skilled migration] has taken the place of a really assertive and confident investment in Tafe ... you’ve got to have both.”
Andrews on Sunday said Victoria had recruited over 700 international healthcare workers over the past year as part of a hiring blitz to attract 2,000 international employees to the sector by the middle of next year.
The NSW skills minister, Alister Henskens, said critical workforce shortages plaguing multiple sectors were a “handbrake” on the state’s economy.
“This labour shortage is not unique to NSW but it is apparent this can only be fixed by an increase in targeted skilled migration and the commonwealth government holds the policy levers to make that happen,” he said.
“Businesses are screaming out for workers and only a significant acceleration of skilled migration will ease pressure in industries like hospitality, healthcare and traditional trades”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions president, Michele O’Neil, supported permanent migration but not short-term visas. She said temporary visas had been used as a “quick fix” rather than addressing the structural issues such as low pay and insecure work.
“Too many employers claim skill shortages when what’s really going on is a shortage of jobs with fair pay and conditions. They look first to bringing in visa workers instead of providing skills and training to workers in Australia,” she said.
Andrew McKellar, the chief executive Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said increasing the migration cap was essential to tackle unmet labour demand and ensure the nation was not left behind in the “global race” to attract skilled workers.
“Businesses of every size in every sector reporting significant barriers to getting the skilled workforce they need, forcing them to operate below capacity or close their doors entirely,” he said.
“Greater resourcing is needed to reduce protracted visa processing wait times. The current delays just aren’t good enough when so many businesses are left without staff and therefore can’t afford to stay open.”
