The Australian Government decided to impose restrictions on the guest worker program of the 457 visa project, since it was considered that the program is abused.
According to the program, when an employer cannot meet the needs of his business with employees from Australia, he can bring guest workers from abroad for a certain time and for a specific position. However, many employers prefer instead “imported” workers ignoring Australians as with guests they can violate labor rights and pay them less.
“We have many examples of abuse of the system. Systematic discrimination against Australians is frequent and so we are forced to take restrictive measures,” Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor stated. The General Secretary of the Australian Confederation of Trade Unions (ACTU), Dave Oliver said that “recently there was an eruption on bringing guest workers from abroad, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians are unemployed.”.
According to Oliver, in the construction sector alone there was an increase of foreign workers by 38%, while 68,000 Australians builders lost their jobs within a year.
According to the Minister for Immigration, these measures aim at protecting Australian employees and creating flexibility so that no sector of the economy is affected.
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