Migration Strategy
On the 11th of December 2023, the Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil released Australia’s Migration Strategy, available here.
The strategy is underpinned by five core objectives:
- Raising living standards for Australians by boosting productivity, meeting skills shortages and supporting exports.
- Ensuring a fair go in the workplace by complementing the jobs, wages and conditions of all workers and preventing migrant worker exploitation.
- Building stronger Australian communities by better planning the migration intake, and giving migrants the opportunity to invest in their lives in Australia through permanent residence and citizenship.
- Strengthening international relationships by building stronger economic and social connections with our region and international partners.
- Making the system work by being fast, efficient and fair for migrants and employers.
A roadmap comprising 8 key actions has been developed to achieve the five core objectives.
- Targeting temporary skilled migration to address skills needs and promote worker mobility
Commitments include:
- Raising the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) from $53,900 to $70,000.
- A new Specialist Skills Pathway to attract highly skilled workers.
- A Core Skills Pathway to meet targeted workforce needs.
- New visa settings that give migrant workers more mobility in the labour market.
- Streamlined labour market testing and visa processing.
- Reshaping permanent skilled migration to drive long-term prosperity
The Government has highlighted two priorities for future reform:
- A reformed points test for permanent skilled migration.
- A new Talent and Innovation visa for migrants who can drive growth in sectors of national importance.
- Strengthening the integrity and quality of international education
Commitments include:
- Higher English language requirements for international students and graduates
- More targeted scrutiny of student visa applications from high-risk providers and a $19m investment into the Home Affairs student visa integrity unit
- Restrictions on onshore visa hopping that undermines system integrity and drives ‘permanent temporariness’
- Strengthened and simplified Temporary Graduate visa settings
- Tackling worker exploitation and the misuse of the visa system
The Government has committed to:
- Introducing legislation, new powers and larger penalties to punish unscrupulous employers and migration agents.
- Supporting migrant workers by introducing protections against visa cancellation and giving migrants opportunities where they have experienced exploitation
- Establishing real-time priority processing of Protection visa applications
- Creating a united intelligence, investigations and compliance capability in the Department of Home Affairs.
- A new public register of employer sponsors to improve integrity and support migrant worker mobility
The Migration Review highlights improving post-arrival monitoring and compliance including through coordination with the tax system as an area of future reform.
- Planning migration to get the right skills in the right places
The Government has committed to:
- A longer-term, evidence-based approach to planning migration that closely collaborates with states and territories and ensures population planning is based on the best available population data and forecasts.
- Establishing a formal role for Jobs and Skills Australia in defining Australia’s skills needs using evidence, including advice from tripartite mechanisms
- Tailoring regional visas and the Working Holiday Maker Program to support regional Australia and its workers
The Government has committed to:
- Increased skilled migration to help meet labour shortages in regional Australia.
- Designating visa processing to regional Australia as the highest processing priority.
- Evaluating regional migration settings and the Working Holiday Maker program to ensure migration supports development objectives in regional Australia and does not contribute to the exploitation of migrant workers.
- Deepening our people-to-people ties in the Indo-Pacific
Existing Government commitments include:
- A direct pathway to Australian citizenship for eligible New Zealanders to reflect the strong ties between our two countries
- A Reformed the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme
- Providing a special visa arrangement for Tuvalu citizens under a bilateral treaty, the Australia Tuvalu Falepili Union
- Making it easier for Southeast Asian businesses and eminent people to travel to Australia
- Simplifying the migration system to improve the experience for migrants and employers
The Government has committed to:
- Modernising the visa system experience for migrants and employers
- The removal of 20+ unnecessary and duplicative visas to simplify the visa system.
For more information, please contact Hawker Britton’s Managing Director Simon Banks on +61 419 638 587.