Bosses plead for relief to fill skills gap

Businesses struggling with labour shortages are calling on the federal government to let them more easily sponsor overseas workers.

Elizabeth Stillisano in her hairdressing salon in Perth. Picture: Colin Murty

Businesses struggling with labour shortages are calling on the federal government to let them more easily sponsor overseas workers and scrap regulations forcing them to prove they have tried hard enough to fill vacancies with Australians first.

The Temporary Skill Shortage visa program is available only to employers in sectors with skills gaps – such as hospitality and hairdressing – and was designed to fill vacancies where Australian workers were not available. But numerous business owners said the system was not fit for purpose, with applications that took months to complete at a cost of thousands of dollars being denied because the companies had not adequately proven they had tried to fill the jobs with Australians.

Elizabeth Stillisano, who owns a hairdressing studio in Perth, said she had paid more than $3500 for the application and to advertise a senior hairdressing role on numerous websites, but was still denied by the Department of Home Affairs to sponsor someone because she had not provided enough detail about the ads.

“I started my application in 2021 and had to meet these labour market tests to prove that you’re struggling to find staff in Australia,” she said. “The government wants you to show you tried every avenue to employ someone here.

“The government is well aware there’s not enough hairdressers and people for other trades, so it (the test) seems unnecessary.”

Ms Stillisano applied to sponsor Leona Lebel, a hairdresser from Canada with more than nine years experience, after numerous video calls with Ms Lebel to ensure she was suitable. After failing to pass the labour market test, Ms Stillisano decided to appeal until she found out the process would cost more than $3000.

While she welcomed programs to increase apprentices, they would take years to train up and “we need people now”.

Ms Lebel said she was “shattered” when she found out a year of work and thousands of dollars spent on the application had come to nothing.

“You spend over a year working on a project like this, working on a big life change and then you’re denied,” he said. “I keep hearing about how Australia has this labour shortage … Part of why it sucks on this end is this thought of ‘why don’t you guys want me?’ ”

Australian Hairdressing Council chief executive Sandy Chong said the AHC had put the case forwards for years that the visa system needed to be simplified.

“One of the main things … is this need to show there is a labour shortage when their own departments show there is,” she said.

A government spokesman said its policies had ensured the nation’s economic recovery from Covid-19 had achieved record low unemployment rates.

He said initiatives had been taken to incentivise people on the Working Holiday Maker program. However, the program excludes people aged over 35 years old such as Ms Lebel.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesman confirmed more than 23,000 Temporary Skill Shortage visas had been approved since the border opened in November and only 2.5 per cent of visa applications had been refused.

But Ms Chong said the notorious process of applying stopped many businesses from even attempting to tackle the system.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar called for labour market testing to be scrapped at least temporarily. “As the global race to attract skilled migrants heats up, we cannot risk getting left behind,” he said.

While criticising the government for failing to get enough people to fill labour gaps, opposition skills spokesman Richard Marles would not commit to changing the current process.