October 2, 2007

Agricultural skills shortages - govt looks at Australian visas

The Australian government is to set up a working group to look into the skill shortages in the country's agricultural industry, pointing to a possible expansion of the temporary Australian visa scheme for people with agricultural skills.

Immigration minister Kevin Andrews said the group will assess the use of the skilled temporary 457 Australian visa. "In response to representations from the sector, an Agricultural Production Working Group will assess the needs and circumstances in which the use of the skilled temporary 457 visa provisions may or may not be appropriate," he explained.

"The working group will consider the skilled labour needs across the agricultural sector, from shearing, to farm management, animal training, machinery operators, and nursery workers," said minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran.

The group, which will include representatives from employers, employees and the farm health and safety group, will report back early next year.
- Australian Visa Bureau

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September 25, 2007

More Kiwis than Brits move to Oz

The number of New Zealanders crossing the Tasman increased by nearly 5000 in the past year, outstripping the United Kingdom as the largest source of permanent migrants to Australia.

Department of Immigration statistics released today show 23,906 New Zealanders migrated to Australia in the 2006-07 financial year, up from 19,033 the previous year.
The number of UK migrants remained steady at 23,223 in 2006-07, having topped New Zealand for the previous three years.

Numbers of New Zealanders migrating to Australia annually has almost doubled in the past four years, with just 12,366 Kiwis crossing the Tasman in 2002-03.

The biggest trans-Tasman drain happened in 2000-01 when 26,106 New Zealanders migrated to Australia, before a pronounced dip in the next two years in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

A study of more than 300 New Zealand migrants this year by PhD graduate Dr Alison Green, of Queensland's Bond University, cited economic benefits, a better climate, wanting a change, and a sense of adventure as factors in their move.

But while Kiwis generally said they were "highly satisfied" with their new lives in Australia, they retained a strong sense of loyalty, Dr Green's study found.

"They largely consider Kiwi culture to be distinctly different from Aussie culture, are fiercely patriotic, and often view New Zealand as better," she said.

In releasing the statistics from a report documenting settler arrivals between 1996 and 2007, Australian Federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Kevin Andrews, said New Zealand and the UK accounted 33.6 percent of all settler arrivals in the past year.

The report said the next largest source countries were India (13,496 settlers, up from 11,286 the previous year), China (12,009, up from 10,581) and the Philippines (5561, up from 4871).
- stuff.co.nz