Editor's Blog

With the sc457 review underway, business groups have stepped up their campaign against increasing the income threshold of sc457 workers and have also made calls to abolish the ‘Labor-era labour market testing’ calling it a ‘needless and burdensome requirement’, according to a report in The Australian.

Australian Mines and Metals Associations (AMMA) has warned against increasing the income threshold for 457 skilled worker visas beyond inflation and argues that employers in regional areas should be able to hire skilled foreigners on salaries at a ¬discount to the threshold, so long as this was in line with Australian market rates for people in that -regional area.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (ACCI’s) employment, education and training director Jenny Lambert told The Australian that the threshold should stay at its current level, though there were good arguments for indexation to inflation. Ms Lambert however said that, for regional areas, there was an argument for a discount because of the difference in the metropolitan and regional labour markets.

“The higher you lift the threshold the less businesses and positions would be eligible to have someone come in on a 457. And that creates real economic problems not just for the business who can’t find a skilled worker, but for the regional community who may not have the services available to them because the skilled worker is not available at the price that the region can afford”. Ms Jenny Lambert, The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Calling for the abolition of the Labour market testing requirement of the sc457 program AMMA’s executive director, policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb told The Australia that while some highly skilled occupations were exempt from the testing, “resource employers support the abolition of this needless and burdensome requirement”.

The Australian reports that a spokesman for the Business Council of Australia said it had “consistently called for labour market testing to be abolished."