The Western Australian Government is tackling projected skills shortages in the state with a program to raise awareness nationally and internationally of workforce requirements and opportunities for immigrants.

 

Research carried out by the Department of Training and Workforce Development shows that WA could face a shortage of up to 150,000 skilled workers by 2017.

 

Following recent discussions with the Federal Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations Minister Chris Evans and Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Bowen in Canberra about workforce needs in Western Australia, the state Training and Workforce Development Minister Peter Collier is planning to lead a delegation of industry and government representatives to the UK later this year to promote WA to potential skilled migrants.

 

“The State’s economy is on the cusp of another period of sustained growth, driven by an estimated $225billion worth of resource and infrastructure projects that are either under construction, committed or under consideration,” Mr Collier said.

 

He said that while priority will be given to filling these positions from within WA, it would inevitably be necessary to recruit workers from interstate and overseas.

 

The UK delegation will include representatives from the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy, the Australian Hotels Association and Motor Trades Association, as well as other industry and government groups. Over a 10-day period it will meet with Government officials, construction and manufacturing groups, and migration and recruitment agents, as well as attend migration expos and generally raise awareness of the skills shortage facing WA.

 

Mr Collier said key issues raised in his discussion in Canberra included a change to the Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMA) and Labour Agreements.

 

“Criteria for projects qualifying for an EMA include the need for projects to be valued at $10billion or more, with a minimum peak construction workforce of 1,500.

 

“However, as this threshold precludes many projects in WA, the State Government has recommended a reduction in the value of the project to $2billion, with a workforce requirement of 1,000.”

 

Mr Collier also called for the Federal Government to recognise Perth under the Regional Sponsorship Migration Scheme, which is designed to help employers fill full-time permanent vacancies that can’t be filled locally.

 

“The advantage of Perth being classified as a regional area means that skilled workers can migrate on a regional visa while living and working in city areas.”

 

Discussion also centred on:

  • providing greater flexibility with visas, particularly in expanding the type of skilled occupations that qualify for 457 visas;
  • expanding the use of Working Holiday Maker and Student visas; reviewing the new International English Language Test Score, which excludes many skilled workers from non-English speaking countries;
  • considering incentives to increase the level of foreign students entering Australia and to encourage them to join the domestic workforce;
  • reviewing the proposed new points test requirements for the Skilled Migration program; and
  • reviewing the allocation of sponsored visas.

 

The WA Government has already announced several strategies as part of a co-ordinated approach to build, attract and retain a skilled workforce in WA. This includes:

 

  • ‘Skilling WA - A workforce development plan for Western Australia’, a whole-of-government plan that provides a strategic framework to develop a skilled workforce for the future
  • a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government to pave the way for 6,000 migrants to receive State sponsorship this year
  • the ‘Training together-working together’ strategy to improve training and employment outcomes for Aboriginal people
  • a commitment to invest nearly $25million for almost 8,000 additional training places in 2011 to help West Australians develop their skills. This builds on the 7,600 new training places funded in the 2010-11 State Budget
  • working with employers to pilot models for a more flexible and responsive apprenticeship and traineeship system
  • establishing a series of Workforce Development Centres across the State, including those targeting Aboriginal workers and employers.