Urgent push for Anthony Albanese to ‘start stamping visas today’

Calls have strengthened for Australia to urgently allow the influx for tens of thousands of foreign workers to fill a major labour shortage.

Tens of thousands of foreign workers have been sought to fill positions across NSW where business owners are “crying out for staff”.

A deficit of 304,000 workers has been forecast for the state by 2025-26, with the latest OECD outlook revealing Australia has the second-worst skills shortage in the world.

The alarming figures have prompted calls for the prime minister to address the crisis as a matter of urgency and “start stamping passports today”, The Australian reported.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean wrote in a letter to the publication that immediate solutions needed to be adopted, like introducing a new visa category targeting “lower-skilled occupations and allows a wider pool of workers”.

Stream your news live & on demand with Flash. From CNN International, Al Jazeera, Sky News, BBC World, CNBC & more. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean called on the PM to urgently address migration. Picture: Monique Harmer/NewsWire

“It is natural that unions will seek to limit immigrant worker numbers, but the most important voices are those of small business owners who are crying out for staff,” Mr Kean said.

He called on the government to fast track skilled migration before the end of August, and work to swiftly address outstanding visa applications.

“The commonwealth doesn’t need to wait for a jobs summit, it doesn’t need to ask the unions for permission, it doesn’t need to wait for an October federal budget; it needs to make the call to start stamping passports today,” he said.

“I’ve been briefed that there are tens of thousands of skilled workers just waiting to be approved to come to Australia and work.”

On Monday, 2GB’s Ben Fordham shared pleas from listeners trying to sustain farming crops on such few workers.

“They don’t have enough workers so they’re not going to plant as many crops, and less food leads to higher prices,” Fordham told listeners.

“The truth is, these are tough people, they’re willing to have a crack, they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is, but at this crucial time they just don’t have the confidence because they don’t have the workers.”

The comments came after KPMG modelling revealed the country had more than half a million less skilled foreign workers than before the pandemic.

Anthony Albanese has lowered expectations ahead of a summit next week. Picture: Sunrise/7 NEWS

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese foreshadowed less ambitious outcomes from next week’s jobs and skills summit, swaying away from the idea decisions would prove as momentous as Bob Hawke’s 1983 grand bargain with unions.

“We’re not as ambitious as that; that was the right policy for the right time,” Mr Albanese told Sky News.

“But what we are interested in is making sure that we can have improvements in enterprise bargaining, that we can focus there on productivity, and we can focus on ways in which business and unions come together.”

KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne told The Australian he suspected the migration collapse caused by the pandemic may have lost the county $80 billion in income.

There are currently about 145,000 empty jobs across the state.