Freeze Australian temporary work visas—CFMEU

Australia, 31st January: Australia must put a halt on the new applications for Australian temporary work visa program.

This has been urged by Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.

Increased number of Australian 457 visas issued--Australia has granted around 26,000 Australian 457 visas to skilled tradesmen in a short span of just four months (from July to October 2012). This is nearly an increase of 13.4 percent over the Australian temporary work visas granted in the year 2011.

Moreover, this is despite the fact that Australian mining and construction sectors are not in a good shape. According to national secretary of the construction division of CFMEU, Dave Noonan, the bad policies are leading to loss of a large number of Australian construction jobs.

Employers in Australia are misusing Australian visa process just to lure cheap foreign workers, he stated. The government must do something to stop the employers from hiring cheap foreign workers because the local Australians having required skill-sets are facing unemployment, he affirmed.

Australia’s 457 visas need to be stopped keeping in view the fact that many employers recruiting foreign workers are misusing Australian rules.

Freeze Australian temporary work visas—Many employers in Australian hiring foreign workers are not abiding by various immigration rules. The result is that foreign skilled workers are being underpaid for working in Australia by such employers.

This has led Australia’s CFMEU (Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union) to call for an immediate and a temporary freeze on Australia’s temporary 457 work visas.

Australia should not halt 457 visa program—Immigration minister—Australian immigration minister Chris Bowen, has meanwhile, stated that the number of Australia temporary work visas issued during the initial half of the current financial year has gone down to 4,442 from 4,617 visas issued during 2011-12. So, he refutes aside the need for shutting this Australian visa program.

However, he admitted the fact that providing jobs to Australian workers is the top priority for the government of Australia.

He further maintained that the nation is having labor shortages, and the Australian 457 visa program aims to fulfill this shortage in case the required Australians possessing skills needed for the jobs are not available.