Australian immigration laws should be relaxed in order to allow more semi-skilled workers into the country to fill skills shortages, according to the chief executive of a major construction firm. Despite large amounts of skilled workers being able to move to Australian temporarily through the 457 visa scheme, Wal King, of Leighton Holdings has called for an increase in Australian immigration.
Mr King said: “I believe the labour force should be completely opened up. There are just too many artificial constraints. If you look at similar places around the world, for example Britain, they opened up the labour force completely there.” The federal government has revealed it will review the visa programme. One of the main problems lies in filling jobs such as truck drivers and restaurant workers, according to Mr King. Leighton Holdings was established in 1949 and is the biggest project development and contracting group in Australia, and employs around 30,000 people worldwide.
1 response so far ↓
sambasivam // July 29, 2008 at 5:58 am |
if the mining sector is in high demand for semi-skilled workers ,The goverment should encourage more of its citizen to the mining sector rather opening up the doors for overseas labourers and semi-skilled workers or should frame a structure such that its people arent affected in finding job opportunities.
i strongly recommend that it is not a wise option to give hand to overseas labourers which might close or grab the opportunities from its own people.
however we know that Australian government have always taken decisions which benefits its nation.