Anthony Albanese sets sights on skilled worker visa reform at Jobs and Skills Summit

In an exclusive interview ahead of his Jobs and Skills Summit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed the key areas he’s seeking reforms.

Slashing red tape holding up skilled worker visas, ensuring Australians are trained for in-demand jobs and overhauling unemployment services are key areas Anthony Albanese will seek support to reform.

In an exclusive interview ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit this week, Anthony Albanese told News Corp lifting the cap on Australia’s skilled migrant intake to fill dire worker shortages was also up for discussion when business groups, unions and governments meet in Canberra.

Unfazed by critics or the federal Liberals’ decision to “exclude themselves” from the two-day event starting September 1, the Prime Minister said he was confident solutions to the workforce issues plaguing Australia’s economy would be presented.

Mr Albanese said he was acutely aware of the workforce shortages in sectors like tourism, hospitality, health and construction and recognised the role skilled migrants could immediately play in easing the pressure.

“Essentially there’s a need to speed (the visa process) up,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed what’s on the agenda ahead of his Jobs and Skills Summit this week. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Mr Albanese said while the government moved staff to help process the huge backlog of skilled visa applications stuck in the crippled system, longer term solutions were needed.

“It should never have been allowed to get to this point,” he said.

In addition to boosting staff to process both visas and Australian passport applications, Mr Albanese also has his eye on more ambitious reforms.

He has signalled his hope to move away from the constant churn and paperwork of temporary skilled visas and instead make it easier for the critical workers to stay permanently.

“If you actually have pathways to permanency then you’re not dealing with some of these temporary visas over time as well,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he had discussed shaking up the temporary system with state premiers and they were “broadly supportive of the principle”.

The PM visited Cerrone Jewellers in Sydney to highlight the start of Jobs and Skills Week. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire

“It’s one where streamlining bureaucracy in order to make sure you get better outcomes is something we can do,” he said.

Mr Albanese said while scrutiny of visa applications was important, a more permanent option would give both workers and businesses greater certainty.

“If you speak to people in the restaurant and catering industry, they’ll tell you that they are continually having this rotation of chefs and skills through,” he said.

“It would improve their efficiencies ... if you had a more permanent pathway

“You hear the same of course for engineers and others in the infrastructure sector for example as well.”

Mr Albanese said lifting Australia’s current skilled migrant intake of 160,000 a year was also “up for discussion” at the Summit.

The Fortune of War pub in Sydney. Many Australian industries are facing a workforce crisis – including hospitality. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

“The point of the Jobs and Skills Summit (is) to be inclusive, to listen to what people are saying on the ground, to adjust policy mechanisms where there’s agreement and to also look forwards,” he said.

“We clearly need to deal with immediate migration in areas of skills need, but we also want to make sure we’re training Australians as well.”

Mr Albanese said it was important Australia took the opportunity to ensure people who had been unemployed for a long period of time also had an opportunity to get a start, or restart in their career.

The Prime Minister has already identified the need to reform how “employment services” work to help people find a job.

“The (system) seems to have gone too far down the ‘tick a box’ route,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with the Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor (right). Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire

“So you’ve made 20 phone calls that you know you get a tick and then assistance or benefits rather than approaching it as, okay what does this person need to get them into a secure job?”

Mr Albanese said more flexibility and “common sense” built into the system would get “much better outcomes”.

“Even though the unemployment rate has been coming down … the length of time people have been unemployed in some cases has been extending out,” he said.

Mr Albanese said the Summit was an opportunity to ensure Australians don’t get “left behind” by the economy.

“We need to use the tact that there is relatively low unemployment rate of 3.4 per cent, but then in some areas ... of youth unemployment can be much higher, and in some regions as well,” he said.