Australia's historical reliance on migration to grow its population and to attract skilled workers will be one of the most complex and politically sensitive issues at next week's jobs and skills summit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Coming as it does when, after two years of COVID-induced low migration, unemployment is down to 3.4 per cent and business is crying out for more workers, the summit is sure to hear many conflicting views.
While, on the one hand, employers want an immediate influx of workers to fix today's problems, others will be less enthusiastic about ramping up migration; especially bringing in large numbers of people on temporary work visas (TWVs).
Unions have long been concerned about low wages growth, the gender pay gap and female workplace participation rates. They argue the current low unemployment rate has created leverage to make progress on all these fronts.
And, more broadly, low unemployment creates the opportunity to develop a more inclusive labour market with better opportunities for older workers and under-represented demographics.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has already said immigration would be a "contested" issue and that unions are against any return to an open-ended temporary work visa system.
She is not opposed to permanent migration targeting skilled workers in sectors afflicted by labour shortages, however.
"This [TWVs] will be an area that will be contested because [while] we accept there are skills shortages, [and] we welcome the priority of permanent migration where there are labour shortages, [there are] some people [who] are using the current situation to seek to return to how things were," she said.
Unions do not want a repeat of the last decade's explosion in the number of TWVs for often semi-skilled or unskilled workers. In 2018 there were about a million people here on temporary visas. That was at the same time Peter Dutton, the then-home affairs minister, was pressuring Malcolm Turnbull to cut the permanent migration intake by 20,000 from 190,000 people a year.
Ms McManus said at the time the TWVs were "shipping in exploitation" and "taking away jobs for local people".
Immigration is further complicated by environmental concerns. Many query the "carrying capacity" of the Australian continent and argue a policy based on endless growth is unstainable. The days of "populate or perish" are, in short, well behind us.
A sensible alternative to unfettered immigration, especially the reliance on TWVs, is for employers to make better use of the human capital we already have. While, on the one hand, the population is ageing, life expectancy has increased. People are staying active and healthy for longer than at any point in our history.
Hundreds of thousands of Australian seniors are ready, willing and able to work, and not just for financial reasons. They already have skills and bring experience and wisdom.
Unfortunately, for reasons nobody is able to adequately explain, this grey army is actively discouraged from returning to the workforce. A pensioner who takes a job starts to see their pension reduced once they earn more than $90 a week. A self-funded retiree who has accessed their superannuation - except as part of a transition to retirement scheme - is financially penalised if they work more than 10 hours a week.
While some companies such as Bunnings, which has recruited more than 2000 people over the age of 55 in the past five years, have taken the lead, ageism is still an issue.
It is essential those taking part in next week's summit don't turn a blind eye to Australia's seniors; they are an under-utilised resource.
