IT Firms Need More Temporary Immigrants
August 13, 2000
Australian information technology firms needed skilled temporary immigrants to remain world competitive, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said today. Mr Ruddock said there needed to be flexibility in the skilled business migration scheme to ensure businesses could cope with change and competition. He said business wanted to be able to bring in skilled migrants on a temporary basis.
“What business is saying to us, is that we want to be able to more flexibly move our employees in our organisations in and out of Australia,” he said.
“And in the IT area what we are finding is that we are in competition with other countries for people with high levels of skill that we don’t necessarily have in Australia.”
The skilled immigration program favours permanent migrants rather than people on temporary visas. But Mr Ruddock said there had to be consideration for changes taking place in business. He rejected suggestions that freeing up temporary visas would reduce training in Australia, saying firms still had to undertake training.
“The important aspect of being able to integrate with international organisations effectively is to have flexible and quick arrangements for them to be able to move their employees,” he said. “Temporary entry simply provides you with the flexibility of being able to respond to their employment needs.” Mr Ruddock said Labor would effectively ban temporary migration schemes.-he Associateed Press, August 13, 2000
