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| 457 visa changes |
| what does it mean for child care? |
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Malcolm Turnbull recently announced the abolition of Temporary Work (Skilled) visa 457. The 457 visa is a temporary visa
for foreign citizens that allows them to work in Australia for four years in their nominated profession. Originally
designed to fill job vacancies that were difficult to find Australians for, the visa was often used by doctors,
nurses, and the IT sector, as well as in the care sector. However, despite government crackdowns there were concerns
that the visa was being used to employ foreign workers cheaply.
The new system that comes into force in March 2018 will include a two-year skilled visa and a separate four-year
visa for higher-skilled roles. They will both have higher requirements that include:
- A requirement for applicants to have at least two years' work experience in their skilled occupation.
- A more targeted occupation list.
- A higher standard of English.
- A maximum age of 45.
- Mandatory labour market testing.
- A non-discriminatory workforce test to ensure employers are not actively discriminating against Australian workers.
Neither of the new visas have permanent residency outcomes at the end of the visa period. Child care workers are not included
on the eligible skilled occupations for the new visas.
Malcom Turnbull said, "These new visas will ensure that Australian businesses have access to the workers from overseas they need to fill real skill gaps gaps, but not otherwise, and that Australians, wherever possible, where
vacancies are there, where opportunities are there, Australians will be able to fill them."
However, with an already existing shortage in care workers, what can we do to fill that gap in the future?
To address this shortage, the Lowy Institute previously proposed opening
up the labour market to the Pacific Islands. As Australia's near neighbours, stability and prosperity in the Pacific
is important to Australia. The Lowy Institute asserted that by allowing just one per cent of the Pacific population,
which would mean an intake of less than 3,000 people, Australia would deliver more benefits to the Pacific people
by 2040 than the current aid program. By introducing a step-change to make it easier for citizens of the Pacific
Island region to work in Australia, they said, "This would allow citizens of the region to earn an income
far above their potential at home, and considerably improve their living standards."
Ms Smith-Gander, non-executive director of AGL Energy, Wesfarmers and Safe Work Australia agreed, calling
on the government to provide a way for nannies from Pacific Islands to help ease the child care shortage in Australia.
She told the Sydney Morning Herald, "I would have
liked to have seen some consideration [in the changes to the 457 visa scheme] of where you might want [to] hire
foreign workers to release Australian women to follow their careers."
Pointing to other countries, such as Canada and those in Europe and Asia, she continued, "If we were
to provide a mechanism for those workers to come to Australia in way that Filipino workers help out in [other]
countries that could address the high cost of domestic child care."
At the moment, many women have to put work on hold while raising a family, something that Ms Smith-Gander
believes is a big loss to the economy. "We know one of the biggest levers that we could pull to increase GDP
in Australia is to get more women working and more older people working."
However, with the government cutting the number of places on the nanny pilot program and it still not being
eligible for the Child Care Rebate (CCR) or Child Care Benefit (CCB), securing flexible
care such as a nanny is a challenge for many parents.
Another solution to the child care shortage problem has been the increase of family day care centres, particularly in
high-demand areas such as Sydney suburbs of Randwick, Maroubra and Kensington. Family day care is increasing in
popularity, offering children care in a regulated home-based environment. These facilities are still aligned with
the National Quality Framework and the Early Years Learning Framework.
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