THE ACS, the professional association for Australia’s ICT sector, today welcomed changes to skilled migration policy in Australia, following the Turnbull Government’s plans to abolish the Subclass 457 Visa in favour of a new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) Visa, as a measure to address genuine skills shortages in Australia[1].

The aim of the new TSS Visa is to ensure Australian workers have priority to Australian jobs, while at the same time ensuring Australian businesses have access to temporary and critically needed talent.

ACS president Anthony Wong said, “Strengthening labour market testing was one of ACS’ key recommendations in our May 2014 submission to the Independent Review of Integrity in the subclass 457 programme[2]. We are pleased to see this is a key focus in the Prime Minister’s announcement.”

The new TSS Visa will include a strengthened training obligation for employers sponsoring foreign skilled workers to provide enhanced training outcomes for Australians in high-need industries and occupations.

“While labour market testing and training benchmarks have previously existed in the 457 Visa framework, we see tightened criteria under a TSS programme as an important signal that the Turnbull Government understands the need to treat Australia’s human capital as a strategic asset as we expedite our transition to the digital and knowledge-based economies,” Wong said.

Mr Wong further added, “Skilled migration in all its forms should be a source of competitive advantage for any country.  It should never be at the expense of the domestic labour market and attracting full workforce participation.”

The implementation of the new reforms is expected to be completed in March 2018.

About the ACS 

The ACS is the professional association for Australia's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Over 22,000 ACS members work in business, education, government and the community. The ACS exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. The ACS strives for ICT professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, relevant across all sectors, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on ICT and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.

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THE Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) suspects that another protracted trust law court case will cause the Federal Government more grief and highlight the long overdue need to reform trust tax law.

“The unfinished business of reforming trust tax laws has come back to haunt the government; it was not that long ago that the government had to make some hasty complex changes to trust laws following the land mark Bamford case,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“It looks like the government may be in the same position following a recent Full Federal Court Decision of Thomas v Commissioner of Taxation (2017) FCAFC57.

“In this particular case the taxpayer allocated dividend franking credit entitlements as it saw fit. The long established trust law principal is that franking credits must flow to beneficiaries in the same proportion as the dividend income and they cannot be specifically allocated to achieve an optimal tax outcome even if permitted by the trust deed.

“It seems the decision in the Full Federal Court has allowed a taxpayer franking credits to flow to beneficiaries not in a way the legislation was intended to operate, underscoring the odd outcomes that can still arise with trusts. 

“The distribution of franking credits to beneficiaries independently of the related dividends goes against established principles.

“Franking credits should ordinarily flow to the shareholder who received the dividend but this seems to be different in this case.

“After many years of trust tax reform discussions and various court rulings there is still a considerable degree of uncertainty in our tax system when it comes to trusts and the need to reform remains, especially in light of the fact that many businesses use trusts as the vehicle to operate their business,” said Mr Conway.

publicaccountants.org.au

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QUEENSLAND Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane has released a statement on the abolishment of 457 visas in relation to the mining and resources industries in Australia.

"The natural resources sector is no longer a significant employer of 457 visa holders, with further recent decreases since the mining construction boom days," Mr Macfarlane said.

"Those that are employed possess highly specialised skills and experience, particularly, university degrees. The QRC welcomes Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying we’ll only take the best and brightest from overseas.

"The total number of 457 visas given to workers in the mining industry in 2015/16 was a quarter of that of industries with health services and a fraction of the hospitality industry.

"Last financial year, 457 visa holders in the Queensland mining industry decreased by 26.5 percent. Hospitality, health care, education, construction, manufacturing, IT and professional services are the big users of 457 visas.

"QRC is working with the resources industry to build the numbers of young people taking up a resources career.

"The QRC’s own Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA) builds educational capacity and skills in local regions by facilitating a range of both professional and vocational STEM experiences for students and their teachers from years 7 to 12.

"Growing the skills base in communities is a great investment for the company and the locals and is a valuable part of resource companies’ social and economic responsibilities in the areas where they operate."

www.qrc.org.au

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RESOURCE industry employers welcome any Australian Government moving to ensure our nation’s skilled migration systems are fit for our current economic circumstances and have the full confidence of the Australian public.

In this context, today’s replacement of the 457 Visa program with a new temporary immigration program will help ensure skilled migrants, and the significant contribution they make to our nation, is no longer trivialised and leveraged for cheap political point-scoring.
 
However, it should be recognised that the 457 Visa program has worked as intended. The system was built to be responsive to changes in our economy and fluctuating labour demand, and has delivered on this objective.
 
The resource industry is one sector that has seen a dramatic change in labour demand and skills availability in recent years.
 
The same temporary skilled migration programs that were critical to filling crippling skills shortages during the major project investment and construction boom, have more recently seen numbers drop to almost non-existent, as skills and labour pressures have eased.
 
Department of Immigration figures show the resource industry as making 6,630 applications for 457 visas in 2011-12, falling to 2,600 in 2013-14 and just 230 in 2016-17.
 
Clearly, any groups characterising the 457 Visa program as detracting from Australian job opportunities have been misinformed at best, and acting mischievously at worse.
 
If today’s announcement is at all effective at silencing the cheap politics and scaremongering that has taken place around temporary skilled migration in recent years, AMMA would welcome that outcome.
 
But overhauling a responsible skilled immigration policy that has proven highly responsive to labour demand and supported nation-building projects, is hardly the type of ‘big picture’ policy thinking that will address Australia’s pressing employment and economic challenges.
 
The government’s attention would be better directed at tackling Australia’s job-killing workplace relations system which, unlike 457 visas, has proven to be a major barrier to competitiveness and employment growth.
 
Learn more about the resource industry’s campaign for workplace relations change.

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