Professionals Australia has made submissions to the 457 panel to take Engineers off the skills list. Its chief executive Chris Walton has told the ABC that too many locals are without jobs and the flow of migrant workers needs to stop.  Mr Walton did not address the problem employers are having in getting Australian specialists to relocate to regional areas to do the work employers need to get done.

The peak body representing engineers, scientists and managers is urging the Abbott government to tighten controls over skilled migration visas.

“In the last year there's about 7,000 job losses of engineers alone due to the hiatus in the resources sector and now we face hundreds more engineers being on the unemployment list as a result of the collapse of the vehicle industry. And there are many other professionals who are also facing a struggle to get a job,” Chris Walton told the ABC.

“During the boom period of the resource we did support the need for some migrant labour but the labour market has changed. Once the big mining companies put a halt to a range of projects and once the end of the stimulus package with the school hall program and that finished and now with the collapse in the manufacturing industry, you've had a perfect storm and the Government needs to adjust.

He says that temporary labour should be that and the labour market should be constantly tested and adjustments made: “The Federal Government needs to take, temporarily take engineers off the skilled occupation list until there is a change in the labour market,” said Mr Walton.

But the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it doesn't believe there are too many foreign workers. ACC’s CEO, Kate Carnell says that the problem is that employers still cannot get Australians with the right level of skill to relocate to areas where the work needs to be done.

“What we're finding is that although those figures look compelling, when it actually comes to the crunch, businesses need a work-ready person with a particular skill set, those people aren't available. Where they are, they should get the jobs, there's no doubt about that. But where they're not available and not willing to re-locate, we've got to, business needs access to 457 visas and they need access to those visas without the level of red tape that exists at the moment.

“Remember people who come in on 457s aren't paid less than their equivalent Australian workers. That's simply not the case. So for Australian businesses, if you can get Australian workers that's by far the best outcome. But regularly you can't and you can't in the sort of timeframes that people want. So what we've got to have is 457 visas that are much more streamlined than we've seen in the past so we can get timely access to skilled labour,” said Ms Carnell.