The Business Council of Australia says the government should be doing more to attract workers to the country
- There is a backlog of close to one million applications across several visa categories in the Department of Home Affairs
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott says fast tracking visas needs to be prioritised as a means of bolstering the nation’s resilience against volatile economic headwinds.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned the country is facing a once-in-a-generation economic challenge with inflation expected to rise to 7.75 per cent.
The forecast means real wages aren’t expected to start growing again until at least 2024 with the grim prediction spurred by global supply chain pressures.
Ms Westacott has described the challenge as a “very difficult situation” in a “very volatile world”.
She's called on the government to “pull every level that’s in our control” to clear “blockages in the economy".
“Let’s remember what labour shortages are doing to inflation,” she told ABC Radio.
“If you can’t get someone to pick your fruit — if you can’t get someone to do the work, that just goes straight into shortages and prices.”
The Business Council wants fast tracking visas and improving the attractiveness of Australia as a destination to work to be considered part of the economic response.
This includes considering extending the deadline for temporary skilled visas from two to four years to increase interest in people taking them up.
“We have got to actually attract people to Australia — we have got to actually rebrand Australia as a place we want people to come and work,” she said.
“We have got to promote Australia again as a great place to work.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers a budget update in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
There is a backlog of close to one million applications across several visa categories in the Department of Home Affairs, stemming from the impact of the COVID-19 border closure.
The subsequent processing delays for this gridlock have meant businesses are waiting up to 12-18 months to fill skill shortages acting as a drag on their productivity.
But Grattan Institute economist Brendan Coates said migration alone couldn’t be seen as a solution to rising inflation.
“Migration itself isn’t a panacea for a tight labour market, or inflation, because migration adds to both the demand for and the supply of labour,” he told SBS News.
“Migrants come to Australia and they work and then they spend that money in the economy.”
The federal government is hosting a jobs summit with business groups, unions and representatives of governments, with the make-up of the migration program expected to be a key discussion point.
Mr Coates said the meeting presented a “real opportunity to test whether our migration program is fit for purpose.”
“All the focus is always on the size of the intake but a lot of the big gains that can be made to improve the wellbeing of Australians are actually in the composition,” he said.
“In shifting the intake to being more skilled — and also easier for businesses to use while also protecting workers from exploitation.”
Inflation in Australia currently sits at 6.1 per cent with cost of living pressures outstripping the rate of wages growth at 2.4 per cent.
Economist Chris Richardson said the economic conditions meant families were feeling the pinch.
“Basically prices are going much faster than wages and it stays around for a while,” he told SBS News.
“It makes the cut in spending power really, really large and it’s happening at the same time as interest rates are going up.”
Mr Richardson said despite the challenging economic outlook facing Australia, it remained in a better position than elsewhere.
“Even though things are worse in Australia — they are still better than we are seeing in most other parts around the world — our inflation is less, our growth is more,” he said.
“For all the challenges at the moment we’ve been outperforming the world for a while and that’s forecast to continue.”
