Bridge too far: Yoga teachers say migration need is a stretch

The peak body for yoga teachers in Australia says the country has an oversupply of instructors despite a national skills body created by the government bending over backwards to put them on a migration list of needed occupations.

Jobs and Skills Australia has defended placing the wellness professionals on its draft core skills list, while continuing to consult on including several building trades critical for the housing crisis, telling a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that migrants fared better in some industries than others.

Yoga teacher Beata Heymann says there is already an oversupply of teachers in the field.Credit: Chris Hopkins

But Yoga Australia chief executive Josh Pryor said a surplus of instructors was stretching the industry and meant wages were being reduced as a result.

“It means that senior teachers are finding it harder to get jobs or gigs that recognise the level of experience that they have,” Pryor said, adding the industry had been vibrant in Australia for many years and was flexible enough not to rely on migration.

Beata Heymann, a Melbourne instructor who also trains budding teachers, agreed there was an oversupply, adding her students found it difficult to find work. “Often, I’ll direct them to be creative and teach in a community where there’s a need,” she said.

Jobs and Skills Australia, created by the Albanese government to solve the nation’s skills shortages, has released three draft lists for occupations relating to a new core-skills migration stream: those it is confident should be on or off the list, and those requiring more consultation.

The statutory body has included yogis and martial artists on the roll call of occupations it is confident will make the list, which also includes electricians, carpenters and joiners, and civil engineers. But painters, roof tilers, stonemasons and other tradespeople needed to address the housing crisis are only targeted for consultation.

A Jobs and Skills Australia spokesperson said occupations identified as being confidently on the list “are supported by data that demonstrates strong outcomes for both migrant and domestic workers”.

Jobs and Skills Australia Commissioner Barney Glover told a Senate committee on Tuesday evening the draft list wasn’t just influenced by skills shortages but also by data indicating how well migrants did in certain occupations, as well as other factors including pay. He stressed the body was continuing to consult stakeholders on those factors before advising the government later this year.

Liberal senator Matt O’Sullivan said construction provided a “wonderful opportunity” for migrants to get work and remain employed, but Glover said “the evidence suggests that in some cases, the employment outcomes are not as strong as we would like”.

“In other words, there is a retention gap,” he said.

Glover said he agreed building in skilled trades would help reduce the housing shortage and it was important to prioritise those skills in migration, but added there were other domestic solutions worth considering.

He said Jobs and Skills Australia was responding to criteria it had been asked to consider in the government’s Labor migration strategy in determining whether an occupation should be on the list, a point seized on by Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

“Labor designed this process in a way that allowed this sort of perverse prioritisation. This is unacceptable and doesn’t pass the pub test,” she said.

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said that while “wellness instructors are an important fabric in the work-life balance”, Jobs and Skills Australia’s draft list didn’t make sense.

“I think the word I have used is flummoxed, that we have wellness instructors on the definite list, but not tradies,” she said.

Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor used question time in parliament on Tuesday to list various government initiatives to address the nation’s skill shortages, including the creation of an extra 20,000 fee-free TAFE places for the housing and construction sector.

He then accused the Coalition of undermining local skills development, before Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said: “If he could just calm down, take deep breaths, find his inner self, he could answer the question appropriately.”

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