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Last year, Alex Kaufman, our Immigration Director of Absolute Immigration Legal, advocated for the codified inclusion of the following occupational classifications for the Aged Care sector in an ‘Industry Labour Agreement’ template:
- Aged or disability carers –ANZSCO 423111
- Nursing support workers – ANZSCO 423312
- Personal care assistant –ANZSCO 423313
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Through an announcement on 5th May 2023, this has now been realised with a recently concluded template that now allows the sector to access automatic concessions and benefits to ameliorate the skills shortages faced now, and in the near term.
The additional benefits included in the newly concluded Agreement are:
- Discount on the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold to $51,222 (currently $53,900 and $70,000 from 1 July 2023). This discount is significant given that the Department has indicated that unlike other concluded Labour Agreements, this threshold will not be affected by the 1 July increase.
- Concessions on English:
- 5.0 for Speaking and Listening
- 4.5 for Reading and Writing
- Pathway to Employer-nominated Permanent Residence after only two years, and without qualification as to type of visa, or the particular sponsor during the qualifying period
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Along with attractive concessions on skills, this presents an immediate opportunity for the sector to address its skill shortage issues. The Government’s commitment to streamlining access under this industry template is highlighted by the fact that there is already one residential care provider who has been endorsed under the new template.
If the challenge of sourcing and assessing candidates has been an impediment to accessing overseas skills under the Labour Agreement programme, Absolute Immigration has you covered with our offshore talent acquisition partnerships.–
Please get in touch for further details, or if these changes are likely to affect you or you or your organisation.
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