Turnbull needs to nip devil in the 457 detail in the bud

In order to avoid damaging our global reputation, it’s vital that we get the fine details of foreign work visas right.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton should have got the details right but its not too late to fix. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The federal government’s clamp down on overseas workers and the emotional rhetoric that goes with it has improved its voter appeal as measured in the polls. But unless immigration minister Peter Dutton gets the detail right, it will backfire dramatically and cost far more jobs than it generates.

The universities are already warning that one of Australia biggest global export industries, education, could be severely damaged if universities are not given access to overseas talent and its graduates are treated badly.

There are signs the government is listening to the universities but on the weekend I discovered that the problem is much wider.

In the detail they have slipped up and are attacking highly-paid senior executives and skilled appointments, thus creating the danger of sending many thousands of Australian jobs to New Zealand, Singapore and elsewhere.

And while it’s not hard to rectify the problems, normally public servants and politicians move at a snail’s pace on the details, so by the time they wake up to their mistakes, the damage will have been done. In the global business community warnings about bad and unreliable governments quickly gather momentum and change investment decisions.

Rather than make generalised comments, let me provide three illustrations, which are typical of many hundreds (and possibly thousands) of situations. All those involved have been hired on salaries of between $100,000 and $300,000. They are highly skilled global operators.

First, we have a female intellectual property lawyer who was appointed to a position, which was unsuccessfully advertised in Australia for 15 months. The employing firm could not find the skill set it required in the local market. It finally found a person with the skills and, under the old rules, a 457 visa was an open and shut case. Indeed, in the days leading up to the envisaged visa rubber stamp, the sponsorship was approved. And, believing there was no doubt, the person being appointed and her husband resigned their jobs.

Suddenly, following last week’s announcement that the occupation had mysteriously been removed from the list of 457 occupations, she can no longer come. That particular business probably can’t shift its base overseas but that and similar cases send a chilling message around the professional community. Surely situations like this should have been grandfathered.

Secondly, we have a production-manufacturing executive who has brilliantly turned around an Australian enterprise saving many jobs. The company wants him to stay another four years to take the enterprise to the next level and employ a lot more people.

Again, mysteriously, his occupation has been removed from the list. He must leave. This person will be extremely difficult to replace and there is grave danger the business will fall back to where it was. Many jobs may be at risk, although it may be possible to shift the business to New Zealand.

Ship broking and sending Australian raw materials overseas is a global skill. In my third example, a person the government now wants to leave the country has been here four years. Their classification has been removed so they must go home. This is a business that could be run from Singapore and is likely to be shifted there. Its rivals may make the same decision because they too need global skills. Locals who want to work in that area will now also have to go to Singapore.

There are countess stories like that and in each case the sudden shift in policy not only has a human cost but also reduces confidence in the country by indicating we do not understand what we are doing.

There were some 200 occupations taken off the 457 list but there is no obvious pattern. It looks like a junior public servant was told to select the occupations where 457 visas were not widely used. They were not widely used because only specialised people with global skills were appointed.

How smart would it have been to grandfather those who had already applied and would normally have been approved? That would give enterprises time to adjust and the government an opportunity to revisit the detail but not alter its vote-winning message.

Instead, we are encouraging those with rare global skills to leave.

And one more point. We are also going to make it harder to bring to Australia young people with unique global software and computer skills.

Yet, whether it is retail or finance, our companies are under challenge from global operators who have such skills, so we are putting jobs at risk by making it harder for local companies to compete.

Of course, there are plenty of Australians with computer skills but the real top skills are global and hard to find and companies need them in order to have a chance to compete against global competitors.

The whole 457 visa changes do not have to be dismantled. We just need to get the detail right but in a hurry.

It would have been better to get the details right first but, if in today’s opinion-poll-driven world it is necessary to go for rhetoric to survive, you must move quickly on the detail or risk a disaster.