O'Connor defends 457 stance

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Created on Monday, 08 April 2013 16:01

Written by Editorial staff

The 457 immigration visas debate rages on, with Brendan O'Connor continuing to defend the Gillard government's stance on the issue.

It has been just over a month since the prime minister announced changes aimed at tightening up 457 policies in efforts to stem alleged rorting of the system by employers.

The news was slammed by the Opposition, who accused the government of pandering to unions and highlighted the fact that Ms Gillard herself used foreign employees in some of her office's most senior positions.

Mr O'Connor has called the reaction "predictable and extreme", citing evidence for the decision in a recent press release.

He argued that there were 107,510 temporary workers on primary 457 visas in Australia during February 2013, a rise of 21.5 per cent on the corresponding month last year. 

"This is at a time when the unemployment rate across Australia is 5.4 per cent," the minister stated.

"While this is much lower than many other developed nations, it is of little comfort to computer programmers in Sydney or Melbourne who can't find a job."

Mr O'Connor also noted that both nominal and real wages for those with 457 immigration visa holders have been tumbling by as much as 12 per cent in the IT-related jobs sector.

"This is utterly inconsistent with the idea that these are scarce skills," he added.

The minister said the 457 system is valuable when used as intended, but the government has become concerned about the number of businesses that may be misusing these visas.

He referenced a Western Australian company that employed 500 workers on 457 visas, with no local personnel - as well as a Parramatta-based firm that brought in people on project and program administrator roles, when they were "clearly" hired as security guards.

Mr O'Connor added that these are not technically illegal practices under the current policies, but insisted they are not in the spirit of the initiative, which is aimed at targeting legitimate skills shortages.

However, in an article for the Daily Telegraph, shadow immigration minister Scott Morrison asserted that existing figures are hardly supportive of the idea that the scheme is being systematically exploited.

"Under the Howard government, skilled migration increased from less than 30 per cent of our permanent migration program to almost 70 per cent, transforming immigration from a welfare program under Labor, to an economic program that boosted productivity and increased labour force participation," he stated.