Opposition leader Bill Shorten who was in Perth on Wednesday for the state election campaign pushed for ‘Australian first’ jobs message alongwith state’s Labor leader Marc McGowan, who is fighting the elections on March 11.
Perth is classified as a regional area as part of the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) where foreign workers are brought in to fill in skilled positions.
But with Western Australia’s unemployment rate touching 7%, Labour wants to withdraw Perth from the Skilled Migration program.
Mr Shorten told The West Australian that state’s changing economy meant it was time to tighten temporary work programs.
“Perth’s inclusion in the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme reflected the huge demand for workers during the peak of the mining boom,” he said. “Those times have passed and it’s time it changed.”
Under the RSMS, foreign workers can come to Regional Australia to work for about 160 occupations which range from blue-collar jobs such as bricklayers, fitters and electricians to white-collar professions such as engineering and teaching.
Mr Shorten on this visit said there were almost 100,000 unemployed West Australians.
“When we are bringing in cooks, builders and hairdressers from overseas rather than skilling and training local young people, that’s just wrong," he said.
Mr McGowan has vowed to tear up the occupations list on his first day if he is elected premier on March 11.
But Premier Colin Barnett countered Mr McGowan’s plan and said that doing so would deprive people in regional areas of specialists such as doctors.
He also argued that the number of people who came to WA under the program was only about 1000 a year and Mr McGowan was turning his back on people who often became valuable citizens.
