Key Points
- Jobs and Skills Australia has released a list of priority migrant skills for fast-tracked visas.
- The list includes yoga and martial arts instructors, jewellery designers and dog trainers.
- Educators, chief executives, medical professionals, and youth workers are also being prioritised.
Yoga and martial arts instructors, jewellery designers and dog trainers are among the jobs included on a draft list of priority skills for temporary migrants.
The list also includes artistic directors, divers and retail buyers, and some building trades.
The draft Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) Confident On List details professions potentially eligible for fast-tracked visas.
It comes after the government released its Migration Strategy in December, which provided a roadmap for reforming Australia’s migration system.
What are the ‘in-demand’ jobs for migrants in Australia?
The names senior positions such as chief executives or managing directors, sales and marketing managers, advertising managers, research and development managers, and chief information officers as priority skills needed in Australia.
Registered nurses, midwives, nurse practitioners and nurse researchers are also listed as priority jobs.
Other medical professionals such as sonographers, diagnostic radiographers, anaesthetists, general practitioners, and several types of surgeons and specialists, are also included on the draft list.
Family support workers, social workers, and youth workers are also being prioritised, along with veterinarians, ambulance officers, psychologists, and drug and alcohol counsellors.
Australia is also in need of educators, including university lecturers, early childhood educators, primary and secondary school teachers, school principals, and special education teachers, according to the list.
There are also occupations in the finance and accounting sector listed, including actuaries and taxation accountants.
Geotechnical, civil structural, transport, electrical, industrial, mining, and aeronautical engineers are also listed.
The draft list was developed based on labour market analysis and will inform JSA’s advice on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) for the new Skills in Demand (SID) Visa Program.
The analysis builds on the and also takes into consideration how well migrants do in the labour market on arrival, reliance on sponsored skilled visa holders relative to employment size, vacancy data and domestic labour market supply.
The draft CSOL is not final and has been released for consultation and feedback from interested parties.
Building and trade industry ‘flummoxed’ by list
Building and trade professionals, including construction project managers, building inspectors, electricians, carpenters and joiners are named on the Confident On List, but an industry association said more trades should be included.
Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said she was “flummoxed” by the proposal, which comes as Australia continues to struggle with a housing shortage.
“We cannot build homes with wellness instructors,” she told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“We need tradies and they must be on the definite list for skilled migration.”
Australia was competing with other countries including the UK and Canada to attract skilled migrants, Wawn said, and was disadvantaged without a fast-tracked system.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said he wanted to see more building trades being prioritised.
“(Trades people) would be at the top of our list, we want to see more of those trades coming in because, as everyone knows, the cost to build a house in our country has gone up dramatically,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“People can’t find a builder for love or money.”
The federal budget in May allocated $1.8 million to streamline and fast-track skills assessments for about 1900 potential migrants with qualifications in construction and housing, and for the processing of evaluations for new arrivals in targeted occupations.
– Additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.
