Crackdown on 457 visas to benefit Australian jobseekers

IMMIGRATION Minister Peter Dutton is set to announce a shake-up of the 457 visa system that will be good news for Australian workers.

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FOREIGN workers who lose their jobs will be purged from Australia sooner under a Federal Government shake-up to the 457 visa system.

The crackdown, to be revealed today by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, moves to stop cash-in-hand payments and remove unfair competition faced by Australian workers.

From Saturday, foreign ­nationals on a 457 visa who are sacked or lose their job will have 60 days – not the current 90 – to find a new sponsor or be booted out of the country.

In 2013, the previous Labor government increased the ­period from 28 to 90 days to allow “workers more time to organise their trip home or to look for another job”.

The holders of 457s are ineligible for welfare payments.

The Courier-Mail understands the overhaul was taken to executive council late last month and gazetted last week.

It is not in response to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s pledge yesterday to crack down on foreign workers.

Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is seen during a tour of the Australian Maritime Border Command Centre in Canberra, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Mr Dutton said foreign workers should supplement the Australian workforce and not be a substitute.

“The Government values the contribution made by the many skilled persons who work in Australia on 457 visas but where there is an Australian worker ready, willing and able to perform a role, it is the Government’s policy that they have priority,” he said.

Mr Shorten said Labor would make it harder to hire overseas workers.

In Townsville, where many blue-collar workers were affected by the closure of Queensland Nickel, Mr Shorten said: “The young people here who are studying and falling in love with the trades deserve a government … who is as optimistic about the future as they are.

“What we also see happening in north Queensland is we hear constant reports of people coming in from overseas … and taking Australian jobs which could be done by locals.

“I think Australians are very hardworking,” he said when questioned whether some foreign nationals were needed ­because some Australians did not want to work.

“A boilermaker, cook, carpenter is unemployed because they’re lazy? No.”

Originally published as Crackdown on 457 visas to benefit Australian jobseekers