McGowan Government reveals bold plan aiming to triple overseas workers in WA each year

The McGowan Government hopes to triple the number of foreigners it sponsors to work in WA each year in response to a historic skills crunch.

With Premier Mark McGowan in Europe – where he will spend part of his time spruiking WA to Irish tradies, nurses and doctors – his temporary replacement Sue Ellery revealed a request had been made to the Commonwealth Government to increase the number of places in the State Nominated Migration program to 10,000.

The move comes as Australian Bureau of Statistics data released Thursday found there were a record 461,000 job vacancies across the nation – more than 65,000 of them in WA.

That compares to just 27,600 jobs on offer in WA in February 2020, just prior to the arrival of COVID into the country – illustrating the massive scale of both the post-pandemic recovery and labour shortages that are acting as a handbrake on economic growth.

Long delays in visa processing times for skilled workers – partly a result of funding cuts to the Department of Home Affairs under the Morrison Government – have contributed to the shortfalls, an issue Ms Ellery said WA had also been raised “directly with the Prime Minister”.

“I’m pleased to see that they’ve put more staff into the visa processing part of the Federal Government but we’ve also made the point that we want to increase the caps that are on the State nominated migration program as well,” Ms Ellery said.

“We want 10,000 places and I think that’s getting good consideration.”

State nomination provides foreigners applying for skilled work visas in WA with additional points towards their application – making it easier to obtain approval.

The Department of Home Affairs — under the previous Morrison Government — allocated WA 3190 places for 2021-22, below the 5000 that had been requested by the McGowan Government.

In March, the McGowan Government asked for 7000 places for 2022-23 but on June 10, following the Federal election, Premier Mark McGowan wrote to newly installed Immigration Minister Andrew Giles adjusting the figure to 10,000.

The McGowan Government has also expanded the number of occupations eligible for state nomination to more than 500, most recently adding 194 job categories to the graduate list – which applies to international students hoping to remain in WA after completing their qualifications – in May.

Offshore candidates are now also being permitted to apply for the state nomination – a departure from the previous requirement that applicants were already in WA.

National vacancy data reveals there have never been more jobs available in a wide range of industries spanning mining, construction, hospitality, health and aged care.

In an encouraging sign for the sector perhaps most ravished by the pandemic, there were 7200 jobs in arts and recreation available across Australia in May – compared to just 100 two years ago shortly after the entire nation was plunged into lockdown.

This is an investment in the future of skills in Western Australia and it’s appropriate that public funds are spent on that.

In WA, job vacancies accounted for 4.2 per cent of total jobs – meaning one in 25 roles were going unfilled – compared to a national average of 3.3 per cent.

KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said part of the problem was many of the available jobs required skills that were not possessed by the ever-dwindling pool of unemployed workers.

“Australia’s domestic labour market efficiency is falling, simply because there is a mismatch between the skills people have who are currently available to work and the skills employers are seeking to hire,” Dr Rynne said.

One of the ways the McGowan Government is attempting to meet skills shortages is through the provision of free short courses for in-demand roles, including a new drillers program aimed at plugging gaps in the resources industry.

Ms Ellery – the Education Minister and acting Premier – said 13 people had commenced the drillers offsider course since it began in April, two of who have already secured employment.

She defended the decision to pour public money into providing training for a sector that was currently flush with cash.

“The fact is, it takes both. So it does take the publicly-funded training system and industry to work together to create the jobs and to pay for the training,” she said.

“This is an investment in the future of skills in Western Australia and it’s appropriate that public funds are spent on that.”