Inquiry into the value of skilled migration to Australia
Submission Date: 9 January 2026
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration.
The Law Council has consistently supported the objectives of the skilled migration program, namely to bring highly-skilled individuals to Australia to address labour shortages and assist Australian businesses in filling needed positions.
In its December 2022 submission to the Review of the Migration Program,1 the Law Council set out key principles that should underpin reforms to the Skilled Migration Program.2 These principles are:
- there should be identifiable pathways to permanent residence for visas in the Skilled Independent and Employer Sponsored Scheme visa streams;
- the Skilled Migration Program should be made more flexible and should no longer be based on static assessments of “skill shortages”;
- attention should be given to overly prescriptive aspects of the visa processing framework which impede dynamic and responsive visa processing;
- mitigating migrant worker exploitation requires an holistic approach to addressing employer nomination settings, migrant complaint options, and enforcement;
- meaningful access to family reunion is critical to attracting skilled migrants, in addition to the social and community benefits of completing the family unit; and
- the Australian Government and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) should continue to work expeditiously to reduce chronic visa processing backlogs.
The Law Council reiterates these views as part of this submission.
1 Department of Home Affairs, “Review of the Migration System (2023) <https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/files/review-migration-system-final-report.pdf>.
2 Law Council of Australia, “A Migration System for Australia’s Future” (21 December 2022), 1-2 <https://lawcouncil.au/publicassets/b5a9d0f3-c68f-ed11-9478-005056be13b5/2022%2012%2021%20-%20L%20-%20Migration%20Review%20-%20A%20migration%20system%20for%20Australias%20future%20%20end%20note%20correction.pdf>
Last Updated on 24/03/2026