Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has waved off the Coalition’s claims that Australia’s migration strategy will exacerbate a looming shortage of tradies as “complete rubbish”, arguing that Labor has offered an adequate visa pathway for overseas construction workers.
Under new migration changes unveiled on Monday, Labor will create a priority visa pathway for employers to bring in migrants earning more than $135,000.
Tradies, machinery operators, drivers and labourers have been excluded from the new “highly skilled” visa pathway, a move that has drawn fierce criticisms from industry groups and Peter Dutton.
“What sort of a government at the time of a building crisis, when you can’t get a tradie and you certainly can’t afford one, what sort of government decides to close the door to tradies coming into Australia?” the Opposition Leader said.
“It’s completely the wrong decision, and it’s going to impact on housing affordability.”
Dr Chalmers said any tradesman brought in through the government’s new visa pathway should complement, not substitute, Australia’s workforce and blasted claims that Labor’s strategy would negatively impact housing affordability as inaccurate.
“That’s complete rubbish and it’s another reminder that you don’t get your information about the economy from Peter Dutton,” the Treasurer told ABC.
“What the migration strategy that we released earlier in the week did, and I commend Claire O’Neil and my other colleagues for this, is it will help tackle the shortage of tradies in our economy. There’s streamlined visa settings, there’s a pathway to permanent residents for migrant tradies, and there are much faster approvals for the skills that we need.”
According to the 2022 Arcadis Construction Costs Index Report, construction vacancies across the nation have risen by 80 per cent since 2018.
Figures from Masters Builders Australia estimate the construction sector will face a shortfall of 486,000 new workers in the next three to five years.
Under the government’s new second-tiered “core-skilled stream”, carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians and other foreign construction workers earning at least $70,000 will have their visas processed at a slower timeline of 21 days.