Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has been contacted by dozens of constituents in the Parkes electorate who have been waiting more than two years for their skilled regional visas to be approved.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton is calling on the Labor Government to immediately reverse its decision to impose a defacto regional processing penalty on skilled workers in priority sectors hoping to take up one of thousands of jobs that need to be filled in regional communities.
Communities throughout the Parkes electorate are crying out for skilled workers, however healthcare workers, nurses, disability support workers, teachers and doctors are being unfairly prevented from priority visa processing because of red tape imposed by the Labor Government.
It all stems from Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ Ministerial Direction No. 100 which directed that “Visa applications in relation to a healthcare or teaching occupation” would receive the top priority for processing. However, his direction did not account for applications for Skilled – Regional visa (subclass 887).
As a result, when a healthcare worker or a teacher, or any other occupation, applies for a skilled regional visa, they are put at the bottom of the pile and not given priority processing even if they want to take up a critical role such as a nurse, disability support worker, or a doctor in a regional town.
This has been confirmed in official correspondence from the Department of Immigration which states:
Please note that subclass 887 visa applications are not made in relation to a specific occupation and therefore fall within priority 5 – All other visa applications.
The Home Affairs website indicated 90 per cent of Skilled – Regional visa (subclass 887) visas are being processed in 27 months and information released under FOI indicates there could be as many as 19,000 Skilled – Regional visas awaiting processing by the Department.
Mr Coulton highlighted this issue back in November last year after noticing a significant increase in the number of people contacting his office for help to expedite their visas after waiting 24 months or longer for approval.
“Unfortunately, my calls for the Labor Government to prioritise onshore skilled regional visa applicants has fallen on deaf ears,” Mr Coulton said.
“I’ve written to Minister Giles several times and have advocated on the behalf of dozens of people in the Parkes electorate who are being impacted by this Ministerial Direction, but with no luck. The number of distraught people contacting my office is only rising as this issue continues.
“I’m also being contacted by multiple employers in the Parkes electorate who are concerned about losing the skilled migrant workers they currently have. These are employers who are already facing labour shortages but are fearful they’ll be even worse off if these employees can’t get visas and are forced to leave town.
“I am renewing my calls for the Labor Government to immediately prioritise the processing of regional workers to help ease our labour shortages.”
Mr Coulton said by failing to recognise Skilled – Regional visa (subclass 887) in its prioritisation, the Government is effectively encouraging skilled workers to move to the city.
“Thousands of critical workers are being unfairly denied visa prioritisation because they want to live in regional and rural Australia,” Mr Coulton said.
“I’ve heard from multiple people who have told me they are now considering moving to the city, or even back to their home countries, because they can’t get visas.
“Our communities deserve better than being relegated to the slow lane of visa processing just because we live in rural and regional Australia. It is just not good enough and I am calling it out.”
Mr Coulton is not the only regional member of parliament who has been receiving a large volume of enquiries from constituents who have outstanding skilled regional visas. The Coalition’s regional MPs and Senators have been raising these enquiries with Minister Giles for months.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Member for the regional New South Wales seat of Farrer, Sussan Ley said the Albanese Government is failing regional, rural and remote communities through this shoddy decision made by a rookie minister.
“As a result of this complete stuff up by Minister Giles, workers that are desperately needed in regional communities are missing out on priority processing,” the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said.
“Minister Giles’ inbox is overflowing with mail on this issue, and we’ve heard nothing but crickets from him. It is simply not good enough and needs to be fixed immediately.”
The Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and Member for the regional Victorian seat of Wannon, Dan Tehan said the Albanese Government continues to show its disdain for rural and regional Australia.
“Already facing critical workforce shortages, this decision made late last year shows that Andrew Giles was happy to prioritise going soft on non-citizen criminals over addressing workforce shortages in regional and rural Australia,” Minister Tehan said.
The Shadow Minister for Health and regional South Australian Senator, Anne Ruston said communities in rural, regional and remote Australia are currently crying out for critical healthcare professionals, yet the Government continues to sit on their hands when it comes to this workforce crisis.
“Expediting these visas would mean that international GPs and nurses living in the regions could continue to provide much-needed support to the local community, but instead the Government has relegated these workers to the bottom of the pile,” Minister Ruston said.
“This extremely disappointing action comes on top of their decision to rip overseas-trained doctors out of country towns through changes to the Distribution Priority Areas and to cut 70 telehealth-related Medicare items that was providing immediate primary care access to mostly rural Australians.”
