PM backs push for big rise in skilled migrant intake
By Stephanie Peatling
March 4, 2005

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has backed plans to greatly increase the number of skilled migrants to help fill employment gaps.

The Minister for Immigration, Amanda Vanstone, is finalising a cabinet submission on how many people to accept in each category next year and now has the support of Mr Howard and the Treasurer, Peter Costello, to raise the number of skilled migrants by as many as 20,000 a year.

"We have an economic need at the moment for more skilled people," Mr Howard said.

"[And if] part of the solution to that problem is to bring in more skilled migrants then I am in favour of it."

But he said bringing in more skilled workers would not immediately fix the labour shortage.

"Most countries in Europe have a growing shortage of people in the same way that we do," Mr Howard said yesterday.

"If you've got a skilled tradesman in India or Lancashire or Ireland who's immediately available to come to Australia, well, fantastic. He or she can fit the bill. But that doesn't in any way absolve us of the responsibility of training more of our own people to do that."

Mr Costello said on Wednesday the skilled migration program needed to grow. The numbers accepted each year over the past decade have tripled, to 71,000 this financial year. A further increase of 20,000 would be the largest increase for the category in nearly half a century.

Senator Vanstone is also in favour of creating a category for guest workers, provided there were guarantees they received award wages, proper accommodation and repatriation to their home countries. The National Farmers Federation is keen on this idea to help supply unskilled workers for rural and regional work such as fruit picking.

But Mr Costello has dismissed the idea, saying he does not think guest workers are "part of the Australian ethos".

The Premier, Bob Carr, offered his support for more skilled migrants but warned that NSW would need federal funding for housing and other infrastructure to accommodate them.

"The mob in Canberra raise immigration [but] they don't think about the impact, the cost on the nation's biggest city," Mr Carr said.

"I'll co-operate with what the Federal Government does, providing it readjusts the grants commission formulae to see that NSW gets more and not less in reimbursements."

Business groups have argued that a rise in skilled migration would help to keep the economy growing. The Business Council of Australia wants the Government to ensure that 50 per cent of all migrants are skilled, to offset the ageing of the workforce.

But the Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, said the move was a confession of failure. "This Government is having to import because it has failed. What I don't believe is that we should be using migration to substitute for a sensible ... investment in skills."

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