Under the 457 visa program over the last year, 104,780 foreign skilled workers were hired. This is less than 1 per cent of Australia’s workforce of some 11.5 million. Despite the small proportion of foreign workers in the workforce, the Labor party is once again ramping up warning of ‘rorts’ in the program and claiming that it undermines jobs and wages in Australia.

The number of people on the 457 skilled worker visa fell to 104,780 at the end of May, down 6.3 per cent since last July, according to DIBP statistics reported recently in The Australian.

Given this, the government as well as the Migration Council of Australia (MCA) says that the program is working as it should: “The 457 program is performing well and the measures to tighten regulation and compliance are working,” said MCA chief executive Carla Wilshire.

 “While there will always be a small portion of employers who do the wrong thing, the continued focus on rorts in the 457 program is disproportionate. By and large, this program works well and serves Australia’s interests well” she said.

Latest DIBP figures revealed in The Australian indicate that the number of employers sanctioned over the year was higher, at 15 per cent. But the government said the sanctions include ‘minor ­administrative problems’. The government targeted some 4000 sponsors over the year but only issued about 40 infringement notices.

Labor leader, Bill Shorten used the increased number of infringement notices issued by the DIBP to ramp up claims of ‘rorts’ in the system. “Labor’s very concerned that under the Abbott government that temporary guest worker visas ... is undermining conditions and wages of Australian jobs,” Mr Shorten said yesterday.

“We are concerned that there are stories of reports of rorts, and abuses of the 457 visa system do ­require a much stronger hand of compliance than this government’s doing. This government’s got to stand up for Australian jobs and Australian workers.”

The Australian also reported that the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation has warned a Senate inquiry that the intake of foreign nurses threatens local jobs. Even so, its submission showed the number of nurses on 457 visas halved to 1489 over the past three years. Official figures show there were 9773 healthcare and ­social ­assistance workers on 457 visas in March, or 0.69 per cent of the workforce in that sector.

Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash said the sc457 program had expanded from 68,400 to 110,000 under Labor in the three years to 2013 but was now shrinking. “Bill Shorten has again ­repeated the fallacy of widespread rorting in the 457 program,” Senator Cash said.

“Given that all official figures have now debunked this union-driven myth, the Leader of the ­Opposition should come clean with the Australian people and admit that he was wrong.”