Australian deal opens way for foreign workers

AUSTRALIA WILL open its booming natural resources sector to short-term foreign workers for the first time under a new scheme aimed at easing a chronic labour shortage that has sent wages and companies’ costs soaring.

Australia’s economy is riding high on strong demand for its natural bounty from the world’s biggest commodities consumer, China, and other markets.

At a time of global economic gloom, immigrants are flocking to Australia’s mines and oilfields.

The Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) announced yesterday specifically clears the way for resources companies to use foreign workers to develop major projects as they struggle to find skilled labourers. The EMA allows companies with projects worth more than Aus$2 billion to recruit skilled workers from overseas on fixed contracts.

The first agreement was granted to mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project in the remote Pilbara region of northwestern Australia.

Hancock Prospecting, a company owned by Ms Rinehart, Asia’s richest woman, will bring in 1,715 construction workers for a three-year period.

“There is no doubt the Roy Hill project is one of national significance,” immigration minister Chris Bowen told the National Press Club, adding that workers brought in under the agreement would have the same workplace rights as Australians.

With a population of 22 million and unemployment at 4.9 per cent, Australia does not have a skilled workforce to exploit its enormous metals and energy reserves quickly enough.

Edwina Shanahan, marketing director at Visa First in Ireland, which provides migration support, said the changes would likely boost interest, not least in Ireland, where unemployment is running at about 14 per cent and where local wages are a fraction of those now on offer in Australia. Truck drivers in remote regions can command a six-figure salary.

“Some of our guys out there are earning $1,000, $1,500 a day. To me this is colossal money. There will be people coming to us – the drivers, the scaffolders, who couldn’t apply before,” she said. “Now they will be eager to get going and work out there for a few years.” – (Reuters)