ACCI chief Andrew McKellar calls on government to step up migration intake: ‘they seem to be procrastinating’

Business is pressing the Morrison government to open the international border to skilled migrants, students and tourists, with the ACCI complaining ‘they seem to be procrastinating’.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar says ‘the focus now has got to be in the timetable and the conditions for opening up the borders domestically and internationally’.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) is stepping up its pressure on the Morrison government to open the international border to skilled migrants, as well as international students and tourists.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar said business was becoming worried that the federal government may be slowing its plans to open up the borders, possibly for political reasons ahead of the election.

“They seem to be procrastinating,” he said.

He said he was concerned that the decisions on border opening may be being made as a result of discussions with focus groups rather than economic evidence.

He said the felt the federal government may be making decisions to delay opening up the borders “driven by a focus group perception rather than the cold hard evidence.”

Mr McKellar said business needed access to more skilled and unskilled workers to fill jobs in Australia.

He said increasing the intake of migrants, students and tourists would help to fill job shortages and stimulate more economic growth in Australia with their extra demand.

“Business is strongly urging the government to accelerate the reopening of Australian borders into Australia.

“There is overwhelming evidence to show that it will strengthen the economy and support wages growth in Australia because of the extra demand.”

The economic recovery in Australia was “supply side constrained,” he added.

Mr McKellar said there were concerns at reports that the Morrison government was looking to further delay opening up the borders to foreign nationals.

“They seem to be faffing about on this. We can’t get any straight answers.

“Enough procrastination. Let us base decisions on sound economic advice and not what focus groups are responding to.”

Meanwhile, many businesses in Australia were not able to fill vacancies with local labour.

“Contrary to some popular misconceptions, if we opened up the borders and start bringing in skilled migrants it will support wages growth.

“It will have a strengthening effect on economic recovery. It will boost jobs, incomes and productivity.”

Mr McKellar said Australia had done a good job in its vaccination rollout.

“Australia has rapidly risen up through the performance rankings in terms of the take-up of the vaccination.”

“The focus now has got to be in the timetable and the conditions for opening up the borders domestically and internationally.”

“We have started the process and made the first steps in the international reopening.”

But he said this was largely focused on allowing Australian citizens to return home.

“There is an urgency, from a business standpoint, to see a clear plan and clear criteria as to how we will proceed from here.”

Mr McKellar said business would like to see a faster opening up of borders in Queensland and Western Australia.

“You have got the hard extreme in Western Australia where they are not sticking to the parameters of the national plan which was agreed on back in August.”

“They have changed the script and are delaying their reopening further until February next year.”

Meanwhile, Queensland had also been “too restrictive” in its border closures which was “having a real impact on people who live in the state.”

“What this has revealed, more than anything, are the shortcomings of our federation, rather than its strengths.”

Mr McKellar said business would like to see more “travel bubbles” opening up with other countries like the one with Singapore.

“We would like to see more countries added to the list,” he said.

He said the relaxation of international travel caps for vaccinated Australians was a good thing.

“The issue for business now is to turbo charge the resumption of skilled migrations coming back into the country,” he said.

“We want to see international students, working holiday makers and tourists coming back with some clear criteria around what can happen in terms of quarantine free arrival.”

“We want the federal government to accelerate the process so we can get those inflows of people moving again.

“We have to open up to the world as soon as possible.”

Mr McKellar said the modelling by the Doherty Institute in Melbourne had shown that the borders could be opened up further in a way which could manage any health outcomes from imported Covid-19.

He said consumers in Australia were “primed to bounce back” as they came out of lockdown.”

“Business has shown great resilience over the last six months or so. It is wanting to bounce back quickly but there are supply chain restraints.”

“There are increasing cost of getting containers and difficulties in getting goods into the country through the ports.

“In addition to these supply chain issues we have shortages of both skilled and unskilled labour.”

“There are many cases where businesses want to ramp up, but they have got constraints in accessing all the labour they need.”

“This is a supply constrained recovery, it is not a demand constrained recovery.”

Mr McKellar said Australia had become too fixated on one public health issue – the number of cases of people with Covid-19.

But there were other issues as a result of the prolonged lockdowns including mental health issues, the disruption of education and the social impact of people not being able to see loved ones including sick relatives in other states.

“We are hearing about a mental health crisis in Australia. By focusing on this one particular variable, we are creating other knock on effects.”

“It has been very tough for a lot of people to be in a situation where they cant freely move around the country and visit friends and family.”

“Business is looking for a clear pathway and further clarification around the conditions and the steps to accelerate the opening up process as much as possible.”

“We are confident that, at least under the current circumstances, the health outcomes can be managed.”