Australian Immigration Daily News

The purpose of LIN 20/156 is to amend LIN 18/036 to include an additional requirement for the manner in which labour market testing is required to be undertaken. Specifically, LIN 20/156 requires for nominated positions to be advertised on the Government’s Jobactive website. This measure would be in addition to advertising in at least two advertisements in one or more of the mediums already outlined in subsection 8(3) of LIN 18/036.

The amendment is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely disrupted Australia’s labour market. Many Australian workers have been stood down or have had their employment terminated. In response to this, the Australian Government has decided to enhance the current labour market testing conditions to ensure that Australian workers are prioritised for job opportunities in Australia.

Source: LIN20156.pdf and LIN20156-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

An invitation round conducted on 31 August 2020. 

457 / 482 visa holders: 10 invitations

Critical occupations: 147 invitations 

The following email has been received from the NSW State Government this morning:

NSW has been provided a limited number of interim nomination places for the 2020–21 financial year.

Because our nomination places are limited, we have made some temporary adjustments to our application process. These adjustments will be reviewed if more nomination places are provided to us later in the financial year.

The agreement struck today paves the way for the resumption of recruitments under the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS), which connect Pacific and Timorese workers with Australian businesses and fill rural and regional workforce shortages when Australian workers are not available.

The arrival of new workers under these programmes had to be paused in March because of necessary COVID-19 travel restrictions, which are protecting the health of Australians, Pacific Islanders and Timorese.

The Morrison Government is focused on ensuring Australian growers and other critical industries have access to the labour force they need. Filling these positions will not come at the expense of getting Australians into jobs. Approved Employers can recruit through the Pacific labour mobility programs only if they can demonstrate they cannot find suitable Australian workers.

Source: Seasonal-and-Pacific-workers-to-help-fill-labour-gaps.pdf