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Vanstone flags skilled migrant increase
17:51 AEDT Wed Mar 16 2005
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has flagged an increase in Australia's intake of skilled migrants but denied it was a sign the government was panicking to address the country's worker shortage.
Senator Vanstone refused to confirm reports cabinet planned to boost the number of skilled migrants by about 20,000 to take Australia's overall migration program to 140,000 this year, the largest in almost 20 years.
But she said the migrant intake had increased almost every year the coalition had been in government and indicated the trend would continue this year.
"If we were to look at an increase this year, I wouldn't characterise it as a sudden response to some skills shortage," Senator Vanstone told ABC radio.
"If we were to have a increase, of course we would be looking to try and make sure that ... the migrants that came in, met the needs that we had.
"It's not unusual for us to have an increase, nobody's panicking, there's not some sudden change in the immigration system.
"We are simply always looking to try and get in the people that Australia needs."
Senator Vanstone said while the government did not want foreigners to take Aussies' jobs, claims that Chinese workers were replacing Australian apprentices at a Ballarat truck manufacturer were politically motivated.
Labor demanded answers from the government as to why Maxitrans transport imported Chinese boilermakers and welders rather than train Australian workers, blaming the situation on the skills shortage.
Prime Minister John Howard said the furore over the case was misplaced because the Chinese workers were not acting as substitutes for the apprentices, but as experienced, qualified workers, and the company had agreed to employ them last year, before the 2005 intake of apprentices.
He said he had sympathy for the young men whose apprenticeships were put on hold.
"But there is all the world of difference between a company making a decision last year to bring in some skilled workers where there is a need for immediately-trained people," Mr Howard said.
Senator Vanstone said Australians could be confident the Immigration Department was tracking down immigrants working illegally and taking Australians' jobs.
"Because we have a basic attitude - give the job to Aussies first," she said.
"That applies to trainees and everything else."
The ACTU discussed the issue of skilled migrants at its national executive meeting in Melbourne, and said it would never entertain the idea because it was about exploitation.
"Nobody, whether they come from China, from India, from Sri Lanka, from Europe, no person should come to Australia to work, not be able to bring their families and be here for more than a very short period of time without being given the rights of resident status," ACTU president Sharan Burrow said.
Meanwhile, an ACNielsen poll found Australians were divided on whether skilled workers should be brought from overseas, with 47 per cent in favour of the idea and 46 per cent opposed.
Another seven per cent were neither in favour nor against, or didn't know.
©AAP 2005
17:51 AEDT Wed Mar 16 2005
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has flagged an increase in Australia's intake of skilled migrants but denied it was a sign the government was panicking to address the country's worker shortage.
Senator Vanstone refused to confirm reports cabinet planned to boost the number of skilled migrants by about 20,000 to take Australia's overall migration program to 140,000 this year, the largest in almost 20 years.
But she said the migrant intake had increased almost every year the coalition had been in government and indicated the trend would continue this year.
"If we were to look at an increase this year, I wouldn't characterise it as a sudden response to some skills shortage," Senator Vanstone told ABC radio.
"If we were to have a increase, of course we would be looking to try and make sure that ... the migrants that came in, met the needs that we had.
"It's not unusual for us to have an increase, nobody's panicking, there's not some sudden change in the immigration system.
"We are simply always looking to try and get in the people that Australia needs."
Senator Vanstone said while the government did not want foreigners to take Aussies' jobs, claims that Chinese workers were replacing Australian apprentices at a Ballarat truck manufacturer were politically motivated.
Labor demanded answers from the government as to why Maxitrans transport imported Chinese boilermakers and welders rather than train Australian workers, blaming the situation on the skills shortage.
Prime Minister John Howard said the furore over the case was misplaced because the Chinese workers were not acting as substitutes for the apprentices, but as experienced, qualified workers, and the company had agreed to employ them last year, before the 2005 intake of apprentices.
He said he had sympathy for the young men whose apprenticeships were put on hold.
"But there is all the world of difference between a company making a decision last year to bring in some skilled workers where there is a need for immediately-trained people," Mr Howard said.
Senator Vanstone said Australians could be confident the Immigration Department was tracking down immigrants working illegally and taking Australians' jobs.
"Because we have a basic attitude - give the job to Aussies first," she said.
"That applies to trainees and everything else."
The ACTU discussed the issue of skilled migrants at its national executive meeting in Melbourne, and said it would never entertain the idea because it was about exploitation.
"Nobody, whether they come from China, from India, from Sri Lanka, from Europe, no person should come to Australia to work, not be able to bring their families and be here for more than a very short period of time without being given the rights of resident status," ACTU president Sharan Burrow said.
Meanwhile, an ACNielsen poll found Australians were divided on whether skilled workers should be brought from overseas, with 47 per cent in favour of the idea and 46 per cent opposed.
Another seven per cent were neither in favour nor against, or didn't know.
©AAP 2005