Migration Amendment (Temporary Sponsored Visas) Bill 2013
Submission Date: 21 June 2013
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs’ inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Temporary Sponsored Visas) Bill 2013 (the Bill).
This submission was prepared by the International Law Section’s Migration Law Committee of the Law Council.
Australia’s Migration Program is a population and skilling programme which underpins Australia’s economic prosperity. It focuses on skilled temporary and permanent workers to meet Australia’s labour force needs. The employer nomination scheme (Subclass 186 and Subclass 187) (ENS) enables businesses operating in Australia to recruit skilled workers on permanent visas to fill specified highly skilled positions that cannot be filled from the Australian labour market. The temporary work (skilled) visa (Subclass 457) provides for the long-term temporary entry of highly skilled persons sponsored by an Australian or overseas business to meet Australia’s skill needs.
The Subclass 457 visa arrangements address skilled labour shortages and allow access to overseas workers when it is demonstrably in Australia’s best interests. As stated by the Treasurer in parliament recently, since 2007 Australia has experienced economic growth of 14% as compared to the United Kingdom which has experienced a decline of 4%. Australia has nearly full workforce participation. As a small nation on a vast continent, it does not have the depth and breadth of skilled labour to meet business and industry needs.
The Law Council opposes the Bill because it has been introduced hastily without adequate consultation with stakeholders and whilst the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Reference Committee is yet to deliver its findings on its May 2013 Inquiry into subclass 457 visas, Enterprise Migration Agreements and Regional Migration Agreements. The Government appears to be rushing proposed changes through the last Parliamentary session before the September 2013 election without due consideration to the views of stakeholders.
Last Updated on 07/05/2025
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