Unions and employers agree 40,000 more migrants a year needed to fill Australia’s skills shortage

Unions have agreed Australia’s migration intake should be boosted but want more protections for foreign workers. Photograph: Grant Faint/Getty Images

Unions and employers have agreed Australia should lift its migration intake by 40,000 annually to help fill skills shortages and demanded a boost to apprentice subsidies.

The consensus suggests the Albanese government could secure broad support for some policy reform at its jobs and skills summit in September, although the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Acci) will use a major speech on Wednesday to reject more ambitious union requests.