After the Albanese government announced an increase in the minimum salary for sponsoring a temporary migrant from July 1, aged care providers across Australia have been pleading for their sector not to be included in the change.
According to The Australian Financial Review (AFR), the migrant reform will see the minimum salary for sponsoring a temporary skilled migrant increase to $70,000 from $53,900, where it had been frozen for a decade.
The Chief Executive Officer of aged care provider Whiddon, Chris Mamarelis, told the AFR that the increase to $70,000 would make obsolete their company-specific labour agreements (CSLAs) with the Department of Home Affairs.
This would mean losing access to potential candidates they had been trying to recruit and rendering the tens of thousands of dollars spent on formulating the agreements wasted.
“It just seems a little illogical…” Mr Mamarelis said.
“Anyone in our pipeline right now… we have a month to try and get those people over the line. And that’s just not going to happen with the time it takes to get things processed by the department and all the other logistical issues that go with it.”
According to the AFR, the changes will push aged care providers on to Labor’s new Industry Labour Agreement, which has a minimum salary of $51,222.
This reform comes at a challenging time for the aged care sector, which is facing an acute shortage of workers and mounting financial difficulties.
In response to criticism, Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said that the Industry Labour Agreement is about cleaning up the former government’s mess.
Source: The Australian Financial Review
