Australia needs to look for long-term solutions to chronic labour shortage, Tanya Plibersek says

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says Australia needs to look beyond a quick fix it has used to “cover up” a major issue.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek says Australia shouldn’t “forever” rely on migration as a quick fix for its chronic labour shortages.

Nine newspapers on Sunday reported that the annual migration intake could be increased from 160,000 people to between 180,000 and 200,000 people to bring in more skilled migrants, including tradies and aged care workers.

The proposal is set to be canvassed next month at the Albanese government’s jobs summit, which will bring together about 100 representatives from business groups, the public sector and the union movement.

Ms Plibersek said on Monday that Australia should consider boosting its intake of skilled migrants “in the short term”.

“I think we have to talk about immigration in the short term because wherever I go in Australia people are talking to me about how hard it is to find people for particular roles,” she told Sunrise.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says an increase to the migration cap could be a short-term solution to the dearth of skilled workers in Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

However, Ms Plibersek said skilled workers had been in short supply even before the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated border closures.

“This skills shortage existed before Covid-19, but it was covered up by short-term temporary migration,” she said.

“We don’t want to rely on short-term skilled migration forever.

“This is something that we need to look at in the immediate term, but longer term, of course, we need to make sure Australians have the skills they need, businesses have the skilled staff they need to expand and grow.”

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce offered his support for the proposal, with a few caveats.

“We want to make sure that when the skilled migration comes in that we deal with some of the issues that the Labor Party have recently caused a problem with, and one is where doctors are allowed to go,” he told Sunrise.

“We’ve got to make sure that we get doctors from overseas into properly remote regional areas so that people there can have a parity of service that they would get in any other areas.”

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says skilled migrants should be encouraged to live and work in regional and rural parts of Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Joyce also cautioned against union involvement in any lifting of the skilled migrant cap.

“We want to make sure that this doesn’t turn into a case of you can come into Australia but you have to become a union member,” he said.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government would canvass a wide range of issues relating to migration before the jobs summit.

Asked about the matter on Monday, Mr Giles didn’t rule out the creation of a dedicated visa category to encourage skilled foreign workers to settle in regional Australia.

“What we are determined to do as we look at the role that skilled migration can play in rebuilding the Australian economy,” he told ABC Radio.

“And by rebuilding I mean not just focusing on the crises that we need to address right now but having a clearer, longer-term vision of how our labour market will look like and the role of skilled migration in that.”

Labour shortages are expected to be a key focus of the jobs summit, with Australia’s unemployment rate at a very low 3.5 per cent and many industries struggling to find staff.