Australia’s continued shortage of experienced engineers risks delaying the slew of major projects coming on stream as state governments sell assets to invest in new infrastructure projects, reports The Australian Financial Review.

There are at least $18 billion worth of rail projects in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne which may be threatened if engineering firms cannot find enough engineers.Some of the major rail projects include Sydney’s $8.3-billion North West Rail Link, the $4.5 billion Inland Rail freight route linking Brisbane and Melbourne and the $5 billion Brisbane BAT tunnel project.

“Anecdotally, the skills shortage feels greater,” Transfield Services chief Graeme Hunt told The Australian Financial Review on Monday. “What is different this time is that across several states, Australia is moving into an unprecedented phase of asset sales to fund construction of overdue public infrastructure projects over the next 15 to 20 years.”

“If the work that’s promised comes online quickly, we will run into capability ­problems,” Consult Australia CEO Megan Motto told The AFR.

For Transfield, which focuses on maintaining and operating assets, as opposed to building them, the shortages of qualified civil, electrical and ­mechanical engineers are a concern.

“When you are operating and ­maintaining energy and tele­communications networks, roads and tunnels or large public facilities, those professions are very important...Employers needed the flexibility to employ foreign labour...This also underscores the need for ­flexibility in sourcing skilled foreign labour through programmes such as the 457 visa,” he said.

Perhaps that’s why the Labor leader has strongly declared himself a supporter of a “big Australia” population policy, setting it down as one of the markers he will adopt if he wins the next election. Bill Shorten told The Australian that immigration had been a great economic driver and he expected Australia’s population to grow at a faster rate than the world average.

Both key political camps in Australia have declared their support for immigration going against the recent rumblings of iconic entrepreneurs like Dick Smith and Flight Centre’s founder Graham Turner’s who have been campaigning that a “big Australia’ is unsustainable.

Their views are supported by a 2013 Galaxy poll of 1000 people for News Limited which found that the majority are overwhelmingly against a “Big Australia”, with 70 per cent hoping the population does not hit the 40 million mark projected by 2050.

Bill Shorten however says, “I don’t favour that bumper sticker which says ‘Go away, we’re full.” Mr Shorten says he is enthusiastic about a bigger population. “I’m a fan of immigration and what it’s done for this country,” he told The Australian, noting that there is a disproportionately high number of immigrants among entrepreneurs and tax­payers.

“The number presents itself. We’re going to have a natural birthrate and we’re going to have immigration. We’re going to keep growing, probably faster than the average for the rest of the world,” he said.

Kevin Rudd generated a political storm in 2010 when he endorsed a “big Australia” following projections in the government’s Intergenerational report that the population would reach 36 million by 2050. The then opposition leader Tony Abbott said he would cut immigration by about 130,000 people a year.

Hiring professional exam sitters to help them pass the English test have helped several take advantage of Australia’s slow immigration and appeals process to remain in Australia for up to 5 years.

Details of the racket were revealed in a series of decisions by Australia’s Migration Review Tribunal, according to a report in the Courier Mail. It states that two dozen foreigners have been caught hiring professional exam sitters to help get them Australian residency, in a lucrative visa racket and 17 more have been found to have changed their scores to turn a fail into a pass.

Modest/Competent use of the English language is a minimum requirement for many visas to Australia.

According to the Courier Mail, the migrants were nabbed when photos taken of the professional exam sitters who took the English test didn’t match the passport photos of the cheaters.

Ombudsman says : "Your employer may choose to pay you using cash, cheque, money or postal order, or through electronic funds transfer into your bank account."

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Article by David Chin

Here are some highlights from our recent research on Chinese high net worth investors and the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) industry: