A major review into Australia’s “broken” migration system has recommended a long-term approach be adopted and a systematic overhaul of the flawed program be undertaken.
The report, released on Thursday by Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil, stressed a major reform was urgently required to ensure Australia has the skills required for the future.
A three tiered temporary migration system will be introduced for the first time, breaking up the current system into three streams: high salary, mid-level and lower-paid cohorts.
The temporary skilled migration income threshold (TSMIT), which has been frozen at the 2013 level of $53,900, is also set to be increased. The reviewers found the low threshold had paved the way for worker exploitation.
The review by former public service chief Martin Parkinson and a panel of migration experts said the current skilled occupation lists were “outdated”, and there was little data to back up its success.
Speaking ahead of the report’s release, Mr Parkinson said that the government was “flying blind”.
“We just don’t know how effective the system is,” he said. “The system does not allow us to identify people who are most likely to be successful and beneficial for Australia.”
In a scathing criticism of previous settings, he also called for the government to move away from permanent yearly caps.
“It doesn’t make sense … stop thinking about it in the short term and start to plan this out over a decade long period,” Mr Parkinson said.
“There you’ve got the capability of the treasury population centre and to be able to start to think about what should be the approach over that sort of time period.”
Instead, the reviewers want the government to target net overseas migration – the combination of both permanent and temporary migration – rather than a fixed number each year.
The seven-month long review, which was handed back to the government earlier in April, said Australia was wasting the potential of international students and recommended an overhaul of the ‘points test’ – or how Australia selects permanent skilled migrants.
It will be redesigned to focus on factors that “best contribute to lifting Australia’s productivity, participation and our ageing population challenges”.
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