The Budget 2017: Funding apprenticeships through a levy on business sponsors.
Again we see our political leaders passing the blame for their own inadequacies to immigrants.
The Australian business community cannot be held to ransom over the political failure to adequately fund and support the training of Australian skilled workers. Realistically this is an additional tax (just another term for levy) to be imposed on business to further disadvantage small business. The very Australian businesses that are suffering from the skills shortage, are being expected to foot the bill.
Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills Karen Andrews, is encouraging Australians to participate in apprenticeships through the inspiring efforts of volunteer celebrity ambassadors. And this is a great program. Work, is so important to our human dignity, and our identities. Learning a trade can provide a great source of pride, income, and opportunity. So perhaps rather than blaming immigrants for taking Australian jobs, we should be asking why there is a skills shortage in the first place. It is not because Australians are not willing to work, and it is not because employers would prefer to employ foreign labour. So given these are not the causes of the problem, they cannot be reversed as a solution.
Emma Espino
Migration Client Manager
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