Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was recently on a visit to India and it was quite successful too, considering the fact that six agreements were signed and discussion took place on many important matters, such as national security, terrorism, education and energy. Not to forget that Indian PM Modi took his Australian counterpart for sight-seeing as well; they both posed for the media afterwards and Twitter was abuzz with memes and jokes on both of them.
However, the latest decision taken by the Australian PM and his government will harm the interests of Indians the most, who are working in Australia.
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The 457 Visa programme has been abolished by the Australian government and it will be replaced by a new category which will give priority to the Australian workers for Australian jobs. Presently, the 457 Visa programme is being used by 95,758 foreign workers working in Australia and Indians form the major part with 24.6% while UK is at the second spot with 19.5% and China comes third with 5.8%.
Under this programme, a business organization can employ foreign employee for a maximum time limit of 4 years in skilled jobs if Australian workers are unavailable and it has been removed by the government in order to deal with the unemployment problem of the country.
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Here’s what PM Malcolm Turnbull said,
“We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains: Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we are abolishing the 457 visa, the visa that brings temporary foreign workers into our country. We will no longer allow 457 visa to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians.”
PM Turnbull also said that the nation would now follow a new approach which would be “Australians First”. He added,
“It is important businesses still get access to the skills they need to grow and invest, so the 457 visa will be replaced by a new temporary visa, specifically designed to recruit the best and brightest in the national interest.”
According to Turnbull, the new Programme will be devised in such a manner that an employer will be able to hire a foreign worker only if there is a critical gap to be filled and not just because he doesn’t want to take the trouble of appointing an Australian.
This is definitely a bad news for Indian workers! What is your take on this matter? Share your views in the comments section below.