The trade union movement has welcomed a government decision to fast-track the processing of permanent visa applications by almost 60,000 overseas skilled workers, but will play hardball on plans to change the size and composition of the annual migration intake.

As the government assured the unions that migration alone was not the cure-all for the nation’s skills crisis, the Opposition welcomed the migration proposals but demanded a seat at the jobs and skills summit where changes to the annual intake will be thrashed out.