WA skilled migration: CCIWA, local businesses say 10,000 new workers a good start but fresh concerns emerge

WA’s peak business group and local company bosses say the State Government’s victory in securing 10,000 overseas skilled workers is a good start to address crippling labour shortages, but concerns about retention and lengthy processing times loom large. Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief economist Aaron Morey said it was “absolutely the case that there is much more that needs to be done”, with about 70 per cent of its members still identifying the lack of workers as a big handbrake on their growth. “The onus is really on the Federal Government here, the State Government only has so many levers available to it,” he said. According to Mr Morey, it’s up to the Albanese Government to rectify its fast-track migration scheme announced last year, which he said left off critical blue-collar positions and roles. “That was a real missed opportunity . . . that decision hurts the Western Australian economy more than ever by excluding some of those critical roles,” he said. Following repeated requests from the WA Government, the new deal revealed last month will see 5000 skilled migration places under the State Migration Program and an extra 5000 places under the newly-created WA Designated Migration Agreement. It comes as the WA Government desperately tries to get more skilled workers into the State, particularly in the building sector as it struggles to keep up with demand from the growing population. While Kent Grinceri, director of Wangara-based Prime Time Electricians, reckons the agreement with the Federal Government is a “good start”, he had concerns around processing times for these skilled migrants and making sure they’re not cannibalised by the booming mining sector. “It’s hard too (because) we get apprentices through and you’re competing with the mines, so a young kid finishes his apprenticeship . . . the appeal is to go up north,” he said. These concerns were echoed by Scott Rawson, managing director of portable building manufacturer Instant Products Group. “(Those 10,000 skilled workers) sounds great but if they’re going to go to the mining industry, that’s not going to help build your new house is it,” he said. “I’m a little bit dubious as to how that’s going to work and the other issue of course is . . . how long it’s actually going to take for them to be let in the country, their paperwork processed. “I’m certainly not hearing anything happening very quickly with immigration.” Mr Morey said these were “absolutely valid concerns” from the business community. “CCIWA has long called on the Federal Government to make it easier to navigate that (skilled migration) system and to make it less expensive,” he said. “And certainly, we often hear about businesses that are concerned that if they do bring in a worker, they may be poached by another sector.” Mr Grinceri said he has had to abandon residential ad hoc jobs like installing electrical power points and lighting as a result of the skills crisis despite the “abundance of work” in WA. In an ideal world, he would have five extra tradesmen in his team of about 30. “Now we’re pretty much just working on tendered projects or quoting projects and then we can at least schedule timeframes around that,” Mr Grinceri said. “But as far as domestic-type work that people ring up for, we’ve pretty much had to cut out of that market (this year), we just don’t have the resources to cover it anymore. “Ideally, we want to be there and do it but it’s just so hard because we’re (already) stretched on project timeframes that we’re given on bigger jobs.” Meanwhile, Mr Rawson has started sourcing components from overseas for its portable toilets and bathrooms, transportable offices and sea containers because local companies could not keep up with demand due to the lack of workers available. “You can all expect to pay a lot more for a tradesperson to do ad hoc service and work,” he said. “And you can continue to see us spend money offshore and bring components in that probably could’ve been made here but local manufacturers can’t get the extra resources.”