Industrial News: September 2009

ANF working to mend 457 visa scheme

Since the arrival of the first fleet in 1788, Australia has been heavily reliant on successive waves of immigrants seeking permanent employment and Australian citizenship. The country has been shaped by the migration of working people.

Health workers have, particularly in recent times, been a significant part of the Australian immigrant workforce. Health professionals are very mobile and move around often in search of higher wages and better working conditions. Nursing has always been a global profession and the international mobility of nurses is nothing new. What is relatively new however is the increasing large scale, targeted, international recruitment by developed countries to address domestic nursing shortages and rising vacancies.

And while the employment of overseas nurses in Australia is not new, there has recently been a fundamental shift from permanent migration to temporary migration.

The first temporary migration program was formally introduced into Australia in 1996. It was the Temporary Business Long Stay – Standard Business Sponsorship Subclass 457 Visa Scheme (the 457 Visa Scheme) which allowed approved employers to sponsor foreign skilled workers for a period of up to four years (with opportunities for further renewal).

The scheme has grown rapidly since 1996 when around 16,000 people entered Australia as 457 workers to approximately 120, 000 in 2007-2008. Nurses make up around 10% and represent the largest single group of 457 visa holders. The scheme is uncapped and employer driven, which means that an employer may engage as many 457 workers as needed to fill a labour shortage.

It has been well documented over the last few years that a large number of 457 workers were exploited with wide scale underpayments and employer threats of dismissal if they complained. In addition many had been ripped off by unscrupulous migration and immigration agents by having to pay tens of thousands of dollars to work here. Sadly nurses have not been immune from this treatment.

Fortunately the federal government has now gone some way to providing additional protections and is working with the ANF and other unions to improve the working arrangements for 457 workers.

The ANF is also talking to government and nursing employers about practical steps that can be taken to reduce the reliance on overseas nurses.

Principally we argue that this can be done by employers offering Australian nurses more attractive working conditions by guaranteeing: fair pay; good work place conditions; professional development opportunities; and healthy and safe workplaces.

The ANF is also working to ensure that only suitably qualified and competent overseas nurses are engaged and that both employers and overseas nurses fully understand their rights and responsibilities under the 457 scheme.

Nick Blake
ANF Senior Federal Industrial Officer