Over 2 million temporary visa holders including international students, backpacker, and working holiday visas will be allowed to work and get their visa extended.
Most importantly, they can draw their super worth $10,000 this year during the coronavirus pandemic. But an international student from the Australian International Student Association says that this money may not be enough to keep them going about their lives.
They can work in some industries such as child care, aged care, disability care, health, agriculture and food processing for at least 6 months after this rule has been relaxed.
For international students, they are allowed to work up to 40 hours per fortnight at Australian supermarket chains to the 1st of May until Australian workers are recruited to fill the roles. And for those who want to train and work as nurses during coronavirus outbreak will be allowed to work.
Backpackers and working holiday visas will also get permission to work in Agriculture and food processing sectors, however, they have to self-isolation for 14 days before they start to work.
Labor's leader Anthony Albanese recently urged the Australian governments to relax the backpackers and working holiday visa in order to get some of the qualified nurses doing fruit picking to work in Australian hospital during this coronavirus outbreak, as Australia want around 20,000 nurses to help the intensive care units across Australia to deal with COVID-19.
In additional to this relax, these visa holders are also allowed to tapped into their super during this financial year (2019-2020) and get their visa extended in this difficult time.
However, acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge says 'those who can not supports themselves in Australia should arrange to go back home as soon as possible.'
These are the latest changes the Australian government made to temporary visas in Australia.
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