Australian Immigration Daily News

By Liana Allan (MARN 0104178) and Kristie Morgan (MARN 1068715)

Regional employers are crying out for workers in regional areas.  Regional Victoria is experiencing a lack of local talent in the following areas:

1. Hospitality - chefs and cooks

2. Diesel Mechanics

3. Fish Filleters

4. Farm workers in fruit and vegetable picking, planting and cultivation

5. Truck drivers (HGV and LGV)

Currently, the area of Gippsland, Victoria is struggling with ANZSCO codes in the agriculturual industry, as they are not reflective of the actual tasks and duties performed.   Regional employers believe that ANZSCO is being applied inflexibly by DIBP case officers. 

One example is the occuaption of 'Nurserypersons' where the DIBP are restricting the applicants to 'retail nurseries'.  The first line of the occupation description in ANZSCO states:

NURSERYPERSONS propagate and cultivate trees, shrubs, and ornamental and flowering plants in plant nurseries.

DIBP case officers are applying 'plant nurseries' and adding in the concept of RETAIL to the definition, which knocks out persons who work in non-retail environments.  The ANZSCO definition for nurserypersons does not state 'retail' in its definition.

By adding in the requirement for the position to be performed in a retail work environment, this restricts regional applicants to working in a 'retail environment'.  Let's get a little bit real here.  How many retail nurseries are there going to be in regional and rural Australia?  Retail nurseries do not provide us with our fruit and vegetables.  Wholesale nurseries do.  Both require the same skill-sets.  The bottom line is that the ANZSCO code for nurserypersons does not state that a person needs to work in retail.  There are persons who work in large wholesale nurseries and on farms who propagate the plant from the start to the finish.   Not anyone can just look after fruit and vegetables.  

Now let's have a look at the occupations of Chef or Cook.  If an overseas national Chef would like to apply for direct entry RSMS then at the moment they need to score 6 in each of the 4 bands on the IELTS test.  A chef who is applying for direct entry should not need 6 in each band.  They commonly don't need that level of English.  Employers in regional areas are struggling to find people who can score this level of English.  There is no incentive for chefs and cooks to look outside city areas if the IELTS test levels for rural and regional areas are exactly the same.  If the whole purpose is to drive skilled workers to regional areas then the IELTS test for RSMS should be the same as the IELTS test for 457 visas in regional areas.  At least that way there would be some consistency for regional and rural employers and their employees.  If workers score less than IELTS band 6,6,6,6 then potentially they could move outside the metropolitan areas and score slightly less on the IELTS, applying for positions in regional and rural areas.  There is currently no incentive for workers to move away from city and metropolitan areas.

As another example, a glazier does not need to score 6 in each of the 4 bands of IELTS to perform their role.  One glazier we have become aware of has sat the IELTS test 13 times and has scored half a point (5.5 in one band) less than what is required for the purpose of an RSMS application.  The fact that he turns 50 years old soon means that the temporary residence transition is not going to be available to him.  He is an integral part of that regional business, but the employer cannot increase his salary to meet the exemption.

There has to be some incentive for overseas nationals to apply for the RSMS visa.  There has to be some kind of waiver on the English requirement for direct entry.  People can come in to regional areas on 457 visas and use an overall score of 5 on each band of the IELTS, or 5 years study in English.  The issue is that they cannot proceed to apply for RSMS via direct entry, without evidence of IELTS level 6 in each band, unless it is a highly paid position. 

There is a disconnect between level of English required for a 457 visa (IETS 5 overall with no less than 4.5 in any one component) compared to direct-entry RSMS for the same person, same position, same location and same job.

Fitting clients and their occupations / positions strictly into ANZSCO codes is restrictive.  The IELTS for Regional Skilled Migration Scheme (RSMS) is restrictive.

Do any other RMAs have these sorts of problems in regional areas?

Does anyone think that the IELTS for Direct Entry is too high?