immigration Minister Peter Dutton has granted thousands of 457 visas in regions of high youth unemployment, despite claiming he has stopped the practice.
Earlier this month, Mr Dutton said: "It's unimaginable that in areas where we might have 14, 15 per cent for example unemployment rate for young people, that we're allowing companies to bring foreign workers in.
"I've stopped that, and there are other aspects of Labor's 457 program that I'm working on tidying up at the moment as well."
But these six maps show the areas of high youth unemployment with regions of large numbers of 457 visa grants since Mr Dutton became Immigration Minister at the end of 2014.
The maps highlight data provided by the Department of Employment based on figures in the year to January 2017, with youth unemployment defined as those aged 15 to 24.
Henry Sherrell, from the Development Policy Centre at Australian National University, said there was an argument that employers are less likely to invest in training young workers if 457 visas are available, but he described it as "tenuous" based on the low proportion of the labour market represented by temporary foreign workers.
He said the 457 program was reacting as it was designed, shrinking as the labour market tightens.
"It's coming down slowly, not because of anything the government is doing," he said.
"It's because employers are seeing slightly less demand for it than during the mining boom and in better economic times."
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