australian meat industry council submission to the · australian meat industry council . submission...

Australian Meat Industry Council

SUBMISSION to the

Immigration Policy Reform Taskforce

on

Visa Simplification: Transforming Australia’s Visa

System

August 2017


August 2017

CONTENTS

1. About AMIC 3

2. Key Points 4

3. Submission 5


National Office, 460 Pacific Highway

St Leonards NSW 2065

02 9086 2222

Contact Ken McKell Manager - Human Resources

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Australian Meat Industry Council August 2017

3

AMIC

The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) is the Peak Industry body representing some 2,000 post-farm red meat industry enterprises. AMIC members include firms processing for domestic and export consumption, smallgoods manufacturers, boning rooms, wholesalers and distributors through to independent retail butchers.

The Australian meat supply chain makes a substantial contribution to the national economy each year by accounting for over $16.2 billion in gross domestic product, or 1.3% of total GDP and $7.6 billion in Australian household income.

The meat industry chain of enterprises underpins more some 1.6% of total FTE (full time equivalent) employed positions in Australia and about 15% of employment in agriculture, around 148,000 FTE jobs. Through full-time and part-time employment as well as local plant purchasing of supplies and services, red meat processing is vital to many regional areas across Australia.

The Australian meat industry is international with around 70% of beef exported and 60% of lamb and mutton exported. It is estimated that 70% of smallgoods sold in Australia is manufactured from imported pig meat from a range of overseas countries, primarily Denmark, Canada and the USA.


4

KEY POINTS

The Australian meat industry has a long and successful history of providing employment opportunities for appropriate visa holders.

AMIC welcomes the opportunity to continue to have input into the Australian Government’s simplification of the visa system by reducing the current 99 individual visa types to a suggested 10 visa types.

For skilled visas the current requirements for English literacy have been too high for people who are frequently of low literacy in their native language.

The range of skilled occupations covered by the previous visa 457 applied conditions such as high communication skills, which were not required for occupations requiring technical skills and relatively low communication skills. The requirements did not adequately allow for differences in occupational requirements.

A skilled and semi-skilled visa holder may welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Australian economy without ever seeking permanent residency. The revised visa should not assume that permanent residency is the major objective.

When building flexibility and agility into a revised visa system the conditions which apply to the original entry to Australia should consider the requirements for the appropriate occupation.

A revised visa system should provide conditions which are flexible at the point of entry and allow for additional conditions to apply prior to permanent residency being granted.

The ANZSCO classification system should be replaces with a system which provides improved identification and reporting of skills shortages.

By mandating a period of temporary residency prior to the application for permanent residency increased flexibility can be implemented where the occupation requirements allow, with additional requirements applied for permanent residency.

A revised visa system should clearly differentiate between temporary and permanent residency while providing for a pathway where the visa permits progression to permanent residency.

For working visas, operational and employment conditions should be incorporated into the flexibility provisions based on the appropriate industrial instrument for that occupation.


5

THE MEAT INDUSTRY AND THE VISA SYSTEM

The Australian meat industry has a long and successful history of providing employment opportunities for appropriate visa holders, including those where English is not their first language. Many of those who have entered into Australia on a short term visa have secured extension visas and ultimately have qualified for permanent residency or become Australian citizens. The AMIC experience with the visa system is mainly limited to those on skilled visas (457) and short term holiday visas (417) although the meat industry also employs a range of visa holders as the employment opportunities require skills at many levels. In some sectors, such as smallgoods manufacturing, visa holders have been highly valued because of the range of skills they bring, skills which are not available from the current Australian skills base. In more recent times the meat processing industry has relied on visa 457 holders with particular skills, including slaughterpersons and boners and slicers, to facilitate the meat export industry, which is arguably the largest export exposed manufacturing industry in Australia. It is fair to say that without access to the skilled visa system Australia would not have been, and may not be in the future, able to meet the demand for export markets. Although not the intention of the so called tourist/backpacker visa 417, the meat industry has provided employment in regional areas and the availability of this labour has been critical to the successful operation of meat export processing plants. AMIC therefore welcomes the opportunity to continue to have input into the Australian Government’s simplification of the visa system which has the objective of reducing the current 99 individual visa types to a suggested 10 visa types. The following submission relates specifically to holiday/backpacker (417 visa) and the skilled worker (previously 457 visa) and their employment in the industry.


6

SIMPLIFYING VISA ARRANGEMENTS

The shortage of Australian citizens with appropriate skills and willing to work in meat processing establishments remains one of the greatest concerns for owners and operators in this industry. Despite the extensive training packages and willingness of meat processor and meat retailing owners and operators to commit to employee training, the foreseeable future continues to indicate a reliance on overseas labour. The meat industry has previously demonstrated some failings in the current visa requirements for skilled workers, including where the initial requirement for English has been far too high for people who are frequently of low literacy in their first language. The current IELTS requirements for spoken and written English is often beyond even their fellow workers who have been born and educated in Australia. The previous 457 skilled visa covered a range of skilled occupations from highly skilled requiring high communication skills to technical skills requiring relatively low communication skills. However, the visa parameters required specific English skills at a level not necessary for many workers to effectively and safely operate in the meat industry. The visa had no flexibility to allow entry to Australia and permit the visa holder to improve their English skills during the period of the visa. A meat processing skilled worker requires physical and technical skills but can effectively operate and live in a community with lower English skills. “One size does not fit all”. Any changes to the visa system should take into account the unavailability of skilled and semi-skilled labour suitable and willing to work in occupations similar to the meat industry and facilitate entry to Australia of appropriate overseas labour.


7

TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT RESIDENCY

A skilled and semi-skilled visa holder may welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Australian economy without ever seeking permanent residency. The revised visa should have the flexibility to facilitate this parameter without the assumption that permanent residency is the objective and thereby place conditions on the applicant which are not essential for that category of visa in the occupations which are applicable. The meat industry experience has been mainly with the skilled Visa 457 and the tourist/backpacker Visa 417. A pathway has existed for the 457 visa holders and many original entrants to Australia have progressed to permanent residency. The 417 does not lead to permanent residency. When building flexibility and agility into a revised visa system the conditions which apply to the original entry to Australia, such as the level of English, should take into account the possibility of progression to permanent residency and allow for additional conditions to apply prior to permanent residency being granted. Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) The proposed visa system will be based on Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) which in turn is informed by the ANZSCO occupations list. The current data gathering process, based on the ANZSCO occupation system, results in some skilled and semi-skilled occupations are either not included or are not sufficiently identified as separate occupations which have a skill shortage. This is caused by the ANZSCO structure and the inbuilt skill levels assigned to each occupation. The MLTSSL will perpetuate this problem where some occupations which require an ATF Certificate III, including Slaughterperson (ANZSCO 831212) and Boner and Slicer (ANZSCO 831211 ) are not included in data gathering. The occupations of Smallgoods Maker and Retail Butcher (ANZSCO 351211) are combined where in fact they are two completely different occupations with different skill requirements. It is recommended that, as part of the review of the visa system, the method by which skills shortages are identified are also reviewed. Permanent Residency after Temporary Residency The meat industry has been an access point for persons considering migration to Australia. The visa 457 has facilitated the entry of skilled meat workers who have frequently taken the opportunity to extend that visa and many have graduated to permanent residency. The meat industry through the visa 457 has been recognised by many as a successful conduit to migrants who have contributed to the Australian economy while become familiar with the Australian way of life and ultimately have decided to become permanent residents.


8

Because of the knowledge and experience the meat industry has in employing workers with limited English capability, it has demonstrated that low English literacy has had minimal negative effect of visa holders who have successfully lived and worked in regional towns and cities for an extended period of time. By mandating a period of temporary residency prior to the application for permanent residency, a lower initial level of English could be permitted where the occupation requirements allow, with a higher level of English required for permanent residency.


9

MODERNISING AUSTRALIA’S VISA ARRANGEMENTS

The exposure paper identifies that the modernising of visa arrangements should facilitate the filling of skills gaps, provide a flexible and agile visa system which is efficient while protecting the security interests of Australia. A revised visa system should clearly differentiate between temporary and permanent residency while providing for a pathway where the visa permits progression to permanent residency. The conditions which apply to a temporary residency visa should relate to the purpose of that visa. Given that the objective is to reduce the current 99 visas to no more than 10 visas, the flexibility around the conditions of the visa will be critical to the success of the reform. This submission has argued that permanent residency may not be the objective of all skilled visa applicants and that the requirements for spoken and written English for temporary residency should be a lower level than permanent residency by careful consideration of the occupation requirements applicable to the visa. The current skilled visa (previously 457) requires a minimum annual salary level (TISMIT) and places additional requirements on a prospective employer which are frequently higher than the equivalent industrial instrument requirements. The review of the visa system should provide flexibility in the appropriate salary level based on the applicable industrial instrument. The Meat Industry Labour Agreement (MILA) provides for protection of the visa holder in relation to a range of matters, including restrictions on the employment occupations, specification on the way in which labour hire companies can be engaged, provision of employment related information in the visa holder’s first language and protections for the employment of permanent residents of Australia. Many of these operational conditions should be incorporated into the flexibility provisions which apply to all visas which permit the holder to undertake employment. The current tourist/backpacker visa 417 generally requires the visa holder to be engaged for employment prior to entry into Australia and this is alleged to have given rise to some unacceptable practices. Any revision of the conditions applicable to this visa should address these issues. The modernising of the temporary residency work visas should also consider an extension to the Temporary Work (International Relations) visa 403. The meat industry has unsuccessfully applied for an extension of the occupations applicable to this visa to include abattoirs and other meat processing facilities. The meat industry has in place a training package and training capability which will benefit the visa holder while providing essential labour to the industry.


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AUSTRALIAN MEAT INDUSTRY COUNCIL ABN 65 990 653 488

Level 2, 460 Pacific Highway St Leonards NSW Australia 2065

PO Box 1208 Crows Nest NSW 1585

Contact Details:

Ken McKell

Manager – Human Resources

Telephone: (02) 9086 2222 Facsimile: (02) 9086 2201

Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

australian meat industry council submission to the · australian meat industry council . submission...

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