Election debate over foreign workers in Australia kicks off​

People working in Australia's oil and gas sector are among the highest paid in the world, earning 25% more than workers with the same job in the United States, research has found. Australian workers earn an average of AU$159,259 ($US163,600) a year to work on natural gas projects, according to a survey by international recruiters Hay.

However, with a small population, Australia lacks the labour pool required for major projects and large salaries are used to entice skilled workers from abroad and to remote areas of the country where many people don't want to work.

The use of skilled overseas labour is set to become a major debate in the run up to Australia's general election in September with one major trade union, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) claiming Australians are being overlooked. The union has launched a TV advertising blitz aimed at making the mining boom deliver jobs for Australian workers, greater investment in mining communities and better management of the economy for key sectors such as manufacturing.

Thirty five marginal and key battleground seats are among those being targeted by the ads, with a major focus on regional Australia where the CFMEU has tens of thousands of members employed in mining, manufacturing, construction, forestry, and other affected industries. 'The mining boom has created opportunities for many Australians, but it has left many more behind, badly hurting job-rich sectors such as manufacturing, tourism and education. This campaign is about refocusing the policies of the main political parties so the big opportunities of the boom can be seized,' said CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor.

'Now the election has been called we want to see all parties commit to better managing the mining boom and the economy for ordinary Australians,' said O'Connor, adding that while the challenges posed by the mining boom are clear, with better management it is possible to deliver more jobs for Australians, more investment in communities and improved economic conditions for key segments of the economy such as manufacturing.
Quote from AustraliaForum.com : "Been offered a job and the company are in the process of sorting out the visa etc. I have a question or two that I would like some help/advice on if possible.

1. If I enter before my visa is approved (using my current holiday visa) would I need to exit and then re enter in order to activate the visa or could the visa be activated whilst in the Country ?

2. Is there a difference in the time it can take for a visa applied for in Australia or applied in the UK ?"
'The high Aussie dollar, driven by the boom, is putting more pressure on manufacturing jobs, and instead of Government policies designed to help local jobs, in many cases we have the opposite,' he explained. It also wants mining companies to be given power to discriminate in favour of Australian workers over temporary and 457 visa workers and for temporary workers to get the axe first in the case of redundancies, despite the fact this may violate state anti-discrimination laws.

However, the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) says that the Australian mining industry needs a diverse range of employee skills and experience to be internationally competitive. 'Official immigration data shows of the 28,600 new jobs created in mining in the past 12 months, 92% of these jobs were taken by Australian workers. Australia has a proud history of responsibly utilising skilled migration that has enhanced both nation building capacities and our economic prosperity,' said AMMA chief executive Steve Knott.

'Skilled migration remains a very small but very important part of Australia's resource industry, as our nation builds the people capabilities required to secure more projects and create more Australian jobs,' he explained.

Knott said attacking skilled migration is a recurring theme in a 'flawed wider campaign' by the union movement to create animosity towards Australia's resource industry. 'It is a complete misrepresentation to claim Australians aren't already benefiting from the huge creation of wealth and employment by our nation's resource industry. An estimated 600,000 Australian people are employed through resources activity both directly and through the flow on effects of our world class projects. Tens of thousands are gaining trades and qualifications through resources investment,' he pointed out.