, say immigration and business experts as Scott Morrison admitted his government’s 160,000 cap is not even close to being met.
“I don’t think we can say ‘because of the pandemic’ anymore. There’s clearly a need for workers to come to Australia as soon as possible. I think it’s political. It’s linked to the election. It’s a state of paralysis.” “We’re not even going to get close to that cap in the short term because we are seeking to rebuild the program, re-open the lines of people being able to come to Australia,” Mr Morrison said in response to questions from“But one of the things you always get from our policy on immigration ... it will be balanced.
Over the past decade, excluding 2021, permanent long-term visitor numbers averaged 162,000 during the first three months of the calendar year, and peaked at 219,000 in 2019. This year the number is 126,000. “Businesses are reporting significant barriers to getting the skilled workforce they need to operate at full capacity,” said Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Australia has needed engineers, has needed chefs, across a range of sectors for a long period of long time,” he said.
Situation normal. auspol