Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) chief executive Belinda Clark backed lower-skilled visas, saying “any practical reform to the way migration works for highly-skilled and low-skilled workers in this country is a good thing”.
“The hospitality industry is crying out for staff from both local workforces and abroad,” she said.
“We are concerned that our industry will miss out unless we are put on priority lists.”
The R&CA on Monday presented a petition to Mr Albanese signed by more than 2000 hospitality venues that called for “extensive and swift reform” to the way the system works in this country.
Its nine priorities included adding restaurant managers and cooks to the occupation lists for temporary skilled visas, enforcing faster processing of visas so that 50 per cent of applications are done in two months and to scrap or freeze application fees.
“Every restaurant and cafe has a sign in their window offering full-time or part-time work,” Ms Clark said.
“Our industry needs the government to act now. We welcome any reform that will get chefs in the kitchen, wait staff serving great meals and restaurants managers doing what they do best.”
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said that “all options need to be up for consideration when it comes to addressing the crippling staff shortages that are holding back business and holding back the economy”.
“Working holidaymakers and international students are an important source of lower skilled workers for small businesses,” he said.
“With international arrivals at just a fraction of their pre-pandemic levels, boosting numbers in these visa categories should be the first priority.”
He also called for the government to open employer-sponsored migration to all skilled occupations “to make the temporary skilled migration system more accessible”.
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said Mr Kean’s proposal would see a return to the worst exploitation of skilled visa workers.
She said the ACTU supported a visa system that prioritised permanent migration and the filling of “genuine” skill gaps.
“Too often claims of a labour shortage are really a shortage of fair play and conditions,” she said.
“This proposal would be a return to the failed approach of the previous government, turning the visa system into a pool of exploitable labour for some businesses, with no regard for the horrific exploitation and abuse we know will result from that decision.”
