Australian Immigration Daily News

Mr Peter Van Vliet, Assistant Secretary, Migration Policy and Programme Branch made a presentation regarding the Skill Stream at yesterday's Consultation at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Level 5, 300 Elizabeth Street, Sydney.

The following were the most pertinent points which arose out of the presentation and round table discussion which followed:

The skill stream makes up 68% of the migration programme.

The current migration programme intake is 190,000 persons per annum.  This has been the total for the last 2 years.

The top three source countries for the 2012-2013 period are:

1. 40,051 from India

2. 27,334 from China

3. 21,711 from the United Kingdom

Of the Skilled Visas the following is the current breakdown by type:

37% are Employer Sponsored Migration visas

35% are Independent Skilled Visas

22% are State / Territory Nominated Visas

0.02% are Distinguished Talent Visas

6% are Business Innovation and Investment Visas

Scott Morrison MP said that identifying skills needs for Australia is a 'cumbersome process'.  He went on to say that there needs to be 'responsiveness when shortages have been identified'.

Morrison made it clear that Bob Baldwin and Minister Cash were synchonize their respective portfolios to better the outcomes for the Migration Programme.

Michael Jeremy representing Migration Alliance commented that in the breakdown by % in the list above, that the list lacked statistics on regional and rural Australia.  The Government representatives were highly receptive to this feedback and agreed that it would be useful.

There was a question from Jonathan Granger from the Migration Institute of Australia.  Jonathan's question attracted a response from the government that the I. O. M. have just relased a paper 'Global Forum of Migration and Development'.   A link to the Global Forum on Migration and Development is here.

John hart from Restaurant and Catering asked to see statistics on labour force numbers per sector.

In my personal opinion, Australian business owners are best placed to determine which skills and which people they require and who they want to sponsor.  The migration programme should support Australian businesses to develop and expand, in particular the opportunity to engage and participate with the global economy.  Sometimes hiring and sponsoring a foreign national can help to achieve such links.