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16 March 2011

Companies will be required to submit training plans for meeting staff needs when seeking to speed up the approval of temporary skilled migration visas and bloc migration for projects above $40 million.

According to today’s Australian Financial Report, the federal government has accepted recommendations from a report of the national resources taskforce, chaired by former Special Minister for State Gary Gray, which will speed up the processing of 457 temporary migration visas for skilled workers to within five working days, instead of the usual two to three months. The outcome of this government agreement to demands from the mining industry is a government-industry plan which has been endorsed by the Business Council of Australia (BCA). The strategy includes a $200 million plan to train 39,000 workers over four years in critical skills needed in the resources sector. The BCA’s acting chief executive, Maria Tarrant, said addressing skills needs would be vital to Australia’s short and medium-term economic prospects. “Meeting the demand for skilled tradespeople in the economy will require a combination of flexible and relevant training arrangements, together with responsive and effective skilled migration policies,” she said.

Excerpt from: The Australian Financial Review (www.afr.com), 16 March 2011