Charles, John Lincoln, Gulmarrad, NSW
We old aged pensioners need to speak up on behalf of our sons, daughters and grandchildren as we are one of the major voting groups that support the coalition government and since we put them into power the unemployed youth of our country has blown out to 36 per cent.
The youth of our country have not got a voice and when they do complain they are called ‘dole bludgers’, too lazy to get off their backsides. We are pretty good at criticising our youth but we do very little to help them get the experience and know-how to get jobs that are suitable in this day and age with a liveable wage. What we need to do is to get off our backsides and approach the people that we put into power and work out something to get our kids jobs.
Help is what is needed for our youth especially in the areas or further education through reopening out TAFE colleges to give them the skills without forcing them to pay large fees similar to HEX fees. Nobody deserves to do a trade course and then at the end of it find that they owe thousands of dollars with compounding interest.
For starters get rid of the 457 visa workers from overseas who are taking our young people’s jobs. Stop employers corrupting the system for favours being granted to these 457 visa workers by continuing the ICAC inquiry into how and why these workers are replacing our homegrown workers. Whilst they are at it they could look into the working habits of our backpackers who work for undercut wages just to stay in the country.
A typical example is the Fly In Fly Out worker from overseas on a 457 visa, earning $3,000 per week sending money back to their home country, money which is not spent in Australia. There are plenty of Australians who are trying to get a job, with the expertise needed to do the job, who are being turned away to accommodate these 457 visa workers.
Do you mean HECS? In any case the 457 scheme is not a loophole, believe it or not it is more common for Australian employers to rely on local recruits than to undertake the process of becoming a registered business sponsor and complying with 457 sponsor obligations. Most foreign professionals find it really hard to gain sponsorship, except for the very qualified/specialised professionals with years of experience, or with high level qualifications that are just simply in demand by any country’s leading employers. Also, a high percentage of 457 visa holders go on to become permanent residents and citizens so they do end up spending their salaries in Australia.
The solution is not removing the 457 visa scheme which most business require to remain competitive, but to make education less expensive not more (unlike what the current govt is doing) and more accessible. I agree the compounding interest is not helping anyone.
Yes Andrea, allowing skilled positions to be undertaken by people from overseas can be tolerated when a genuine shortage exists. But Charles is spot-on about negligible economic gain when compared to the much greater benefit of local people spending their earnings here.
Also note the Leading Indicator provided by WA’s latest increase in unemployment revealed that local workers are being laid-off whilst 457 guests are allowed remain as if resource projects were still at the peak of a boom.
Now 7000 more families (and rising) unnecessarily face uncertainty in 2015.
I respectfully disagree with you on this matter. Not everyone on a 457 visa is looking to “fly in and fly out” sending money back to another country. In fact I would say most are aware that they need to contribute to the economy and will continue to do so.
I think you should review your comments and think again.
You’re dated views are not welcome in a modern Australia.
Having spent a lot of time working at different jobs around the country I agree absolutely with this letter. There are almost 1.8 million people in this country on temporary visas and most of them have working rights. Included on the skills visa list are journalists (including print and other journalists as Australian print journalists are being made redundant everywhere) nurses (as universities churn out graduates who can’t find jobs), and just about every trade and job you can think of. Many industries are unhappy about this situation which has led to 5000 too many accountants, as well as too many IT people, architects and numerous other professions. The number of temporary visa holders is uncapped so basically anyone can work in Australia.
I met Taiwanese boys who were paid $5 an hour on a Sunshine Coast farm after all the Australian workers were fired. I also met people whose friends had all been laid off from a cotton gin in favour of foreign labour. When I tried to get seasonal work in an industry I had 25 years experience in it had all been tied up by labour hire agencies who would only employ backpackers. There needs to be a federal inquiry into these labour hire agents. There has been an academic research study which found that the developer lobby, real estate industry and media companies like NewsCorp who make money from real estate advertising were behind the push to grow our population which has led to our currently record high immigration levels. Which would be fine if it hadn’t led to traffic gridlock, infrastructure problems and soaring unemployment….Is it because the majority of them are British, Irish and Kiwis that this is not being debated? Or is it because the media wants the advertising revenue that all the extra housing brings…
Those 457 visa abuse doubters should take note of recent (5th Feb) publication in national newspapers of the recent raid on one large engineering EPC contractor by the Department of Immigration and led by the Federal Police over the misuse of 457’s for workers on one large Queensland LNG project.
But single out that contractor as the sole culprit for 457 visa abuse would be unfair
Its a skilled visa program! what kid is going to get a skilled job, this article is a joke! My partner is a scientist and Im a high earning IT contract from the UK and we are on a 457 and i can tell you now both our jobs are in Demand as Australia simply doesnt have the pool of talent that the UK or USA has. If your going to crack down on 457 you should remove ‘cooks’ at little takeaway places from being able to get the visas.
Complete and utter rubbish.
The Australian government would never let this kind of thing happen, they respect the people way too much, the rich powerful ones anyway.
The rest of us will just piss and moan and nothing will ever happen, the country is going to the dogs, grab what you can while you can and bugger everyone else.
Why dont australians ever demonstrate in the streets, because we are all either too scared or frightened to lose what we already have or think we have.
Bring on the revolution!!!!!
I was employed in a senior poisition on a major gas project. 12 months later the company (foreign based) brought 3 people into my department on 457 visas, two of them brought their families. These employees were provided with apartments, free medical care & cars. Two were junior to me & one at the same level. After 18 months I was told my job was finished. Those 3 people worked here for at least another 9 months and may still be doing so. I know for a fact that Australian colleagues with exactly the same, or indeed superior skills were out of work at that time and most still are. I have been out of work for 9 months. How is this right? Recently I have also seen at first hand the large number of 457 visa holders (from nursing staff to domestic staff i.e. cleaners, housekeepers etc) working in a large public & a small private hospital. How do they get away with it? Disgusting.
My husband and I are here in Australia on a 457 visa, we have 3 children with our 2 youngest being born here, we spend every penny my husband earns in australia, he pays tax on his wages like everyone else, he also pays a medicare levy even tho we are not entitled to Medicare , our 457 visa cost 12,000 dollars which is more money going into the Australian economy, we pay 2000 per term for our eldest to go to school and when the younger 2 start we will have to pay for them too, hopefully next year we will apply to become permanent residents, the current cost for our family for pr is 17000 , dont get me wrong we pay all this money out but we are very happy to do so, we love it here and wouldnt change where we live for anything but i just want to point out that we contribute to the economy so much! Also it is not easy to just gain a 457 , you must be very skilled at what you do and have min 5 years experience and the employer must prove that he or she hasnt been able to find an Australian citizen to fill the position