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HUGE BOOST FOR SKILLED MIGRANTS

SOARING job vacancies have forced the Australian Government to boost its skilled migrant intake to a huge 97,500 in the coming 12 months. This will give an extra 20,000 skilled places.

In turn, this increase will boost the overall migrant intake to 130,000 to 140,000 places - the most for many years.

Two major new developments are that Perth and Adelaide cities have been added to the list of regional centres so that they can attract skilled workers more easily.

The main scheme to benefit from the increases is State-sponsored and regional migration visas.

These increases, from less than 3,500 places last year to 10,000 pleases - making it easier for the States and regional areas to attract the type of skilled migrants they need.

Employers sponsoring bricklayers, plumbers and engineers will receive priority processing, to help meet the huge house building and renovation booms.

Announcing the increase, Minister for Immigration, Senator Vanstone said: "'It reflects the Government's strongly held view regarding the benefits of well managed immigration arrangements."

"The increase in 2005-06 will complement measures the Government is taking to expand training of Australians, particularly in the traditional trades, and will ensure that the working age portion of our population continues to grow," she said.

The increase will target employer sponsored migration, state/region sponsored migration, or migrants who have an occupation on an expanded and more responsive Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL).

"A primary aim will be to increase the number of skilled migrants entering under the employer sponsored categories, as it is employers who are best placed to identify the skilled migrants we need," the Minister said.

DIMIA and industry will run joint seminars for employers to help them better understand how to use the employer sponsorship process and to understand their obligations within this.

DIMIA and industry will also run joint recruitment events to better match potential skilled migrants with employers who are finding it difficult to recruit skilled workers locally.

"As we are competing globally for skilled workers, it is essential that Australian employers have a competitive edge in this area," the Minister said.