Migration reforms announced

In a speech (and press release) on 8 February 2010 the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship,Senator Evans announced some sweeping changes to the skilled migration program:

1. All applications lodged before 1 September 2007 and not decided (about 20,000 of them) will be withdrawn and the application fee refunded. I am astounded that there are that many in the system!
2. The occupations in demand list (MODL) is immediately abolished;
3. The points test is going to be reviewed to ensure that it selects the "best and brightest". One of the problems with the current test is that it: "puts an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist.";
4. The Minister will have the power to limit the numbers of particular occupations; and
5. State and Territory sponsored migration plans are to be refined so that states can prioritise the types of migrants that they want.

As often happens there was no (or little) notice of these changes and there will be a lot of unhappy applicants/potential applicants who had made plans based on the law as it stood on Sunday night. We will have to wait and see what happens and how the changes evolve.

Full text of the Minister's press release is available here.

See also the articles from yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.

Creative commons attribution for the photograph above:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/ / CC BY 2.0

Is the skills shortage back?

According to two reports released by Clarius (a listed recruitment services business), Australia has moved from a job slump to the brink of a skills shortage in the space of about 6 months.

This was described by Kym Quick (the chief operating officer of Clarius) in a media release published on the Clarius web site Australia rolls from jobs slump to skills crisis in the following colourful terms:

``The skilled labour shortage issue might have fallen off a cliff in March last year but it has dusted itself off in the last eight months and is now climbing back up the rock face faster than most recruitment experts would have predicted.....

Of most concern is the underlying trend back to chronic skills shortages, which is moving the fastest among the building and engineering professionals and tradespeople who are so desperately needed to fulfil the nation's infrastructure agenda.''

This is another illustration of how difficult it is to set and adjust migration policy - should we turn on the flow of skilled migrants or not?...of course it is good news for skilled migrants seeking to work in Australia.

See also the Clarius Skills Index December 2009 Quarter

Creative commons attribution for the photograph: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertozampinofoto/ / CC BY-ND 2.0