Oz immigration exempts skilled migrant jobs from Labour Market Testing

Australian employers recruiting highly skilled workers will now not have to advertise vacant jobs locally before offering them to temporary skilled migrants.

The announcement of the change in Labour Market Testing rules came from Senator Michaelia Cash, Australia’s assistant minister for immigration and border protection. The move is being regarded as a u-turn in a policy intended to eventually remove the LMT requirement.

Before the recent election, the then immigration spokesman for the opposition, Scott Morrison, opposed the introduction of LMT as being unnecessary and expensive. Now the new Immigration Minister, Morrison has been urged by the country’s business community to get rid of the LMY legislation.

The minister’s speech was his first since the October election, and contained a warning to employers that any abuse of the system would result in a crackdown. Several powerful Australian trades unions have been urging that the legislation be repealed as it was harming businesses and the economy.

Conversely, since the measure was introduced, a 13 per cent drop in applications for 457 visas has been noted, inferring that a number of jobs advertised were able to be filled by Oz workers. The secretary of the union representing construction and mining workers had accused employers of making unwarranted applications previous to the introduction of LMT.