- Maximising the Workforce and Social Participation of Migrants and their Families
- As demonstrated in other sections of this report, migration offers Australia’s society, culture, and economy a wide array of benefits. As well as enriching Australia’s cultural landscape, migrants infuse the economy with sought-after skills, experience, and knowledge, fill gaps in the labour market that cannot be met by domestic supply alone, and, on aggregate, helps raise Australia’s productivity and standard of living.
- Despite the already positive contribution migrants make to Australia, the Committee heard evidence there is room for further improvements to allow migrants to maximise their economic and social participation, thus promoting the goal of social cohesion and the fostering of a sense of belonging to Australian society in migrant groups.
- The Committee heard that settlement services should be extended to facilitate the social integration of a greater range of migrants than currently—such services are, at present, mainly restricted to humanitarian entrants. Noting that some migrants require more support than others, such settlement services need to be tailored to suit the requirements of individual migrants and embedded within communities.
- An expansion of settlement services would not only lead to better social participation and integration of migrants into Australian society, but would improve economic outcomes, too, through better targeted employment services. As noted by the Settlement Council of Australia: ‘[e]mployment is a key sign of successful settlement’.
- The importance of settlement services is promoting the successful integration of migrants and their families into the Australian community. Settlement Services International (SSI) informed the Committee that in the Australian context, ‘integration is usually defined as the capacity to participate fully in economic, social, cultural and civic life and is a multi-dimensional, two-way process of mutual adaptation between newcomers and host communities’.
- Finally, the Committee heard evidence that the current system can be reformed to further improve its economic outcomes. Specifically, better accounting of the skills and experience of so-called secondary applicants—family members accompanying primary visa applicants—particularly spouses and partners, would encourage higher skill couples to apply for skilled visas, thus raising the level of skill coming into the country and improving the overall economic outcomes of the migration program.
Extending Settlement Services
8.7Emigrating to a new country is a major life decision that is fraught with challenges and uncertainties, as well as opportunities and possibilities. Having a support system in place to aid migrants in settling into their new home and community is vital for the long-term success of individual migrants and their families and for wider social cohesion outcomes for the country. As noted by the Australian Constructors Association in relation to the construction industry: ‘The migration process cannot stop at the arrival lounge. Post-arrival integration is the key challenge facing migrants seeking to enter the construction industry.’
8.8The Committee heard evidence that the current settlement support services, while world-leading in many regards, should be expanded to better promote the economic and social participation of a wider range of migrants and advance social cohesion more generally.
8.9In its submission to the inquiry, the Department of Home Affairs noted that there ‘are a range of settlement options offered to new migrants that will enable them to fully participate, both socially and economically, in Australia’. The submission highlighted supports available under the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), the Youth Transition Support service (YTS), the Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP), and Specialised and Intensive Services (SIS). These programs are mainly targeted to humanitarian entrants (and the YTS to ‘humanitarian entrants and vulnerable migrants [aged] 15 to 25’).
8.10Settlement services that relate specifically to humanitarian entrants, are discussed in Chapter 9.
8.11At present, settlement services are delivered across the three tiers of government and through networks of publicly funded service providers under the ‘National Settlement Framework’ (the Framework). The Framework is a ‘high level structural blueprint for the three tiers of government, Commonwealth, State and Territory, and Local Government, to work in partnership to effectively plan and deliver services that support the settlement of migrants and new arrivals in Australia.’ The Framework serves to ‘enhance inter-governmental collaboration, information sharing and coordination to improve settlement outcomes for migrants and new arrivals in Australia’.
8.12The Framework recognises the vital importance of settlement supports, particularly over the first five years following a migrant’s arrival—the ‘settlement period’—for promoting long-term outcomes. Over this period, migrants ‘seek to become orientated, established, integrated and independent in their communities’. Settlement services, according to the Framework, provide migrants ‘a path and a means… to achieve full participation and adjust to their new society’.
8.13According to the Framework, migrants can access a wide array of settlement services, including mainstream and specialised supports, that provide migrants with ‘support, knowledge and skills that enable them to establish a life in Australia’. In particular, ‘government-funded services focus on supporting the early acquisition of English language skills, active participation in the workforce, and access to education’ to allow migrants to participate ‘economically, socially and culturally in Australian society’.
8.14Under the Framework, the range of services, both mainstream and specialised, provided by the three tiers of government are summarised in Figure 8.1, below.
Figure 8.1Key Services Delivered by the Three Tiers of Government
Source: Department of Home Affairs, 'The National Settlement Framework', p. 3, https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/settlement-services-subsite/files/the-national-settlement-framework.pdf, viewed 30 July 2024.
8.15Despite the apparent wide range of services available to migrants, the Committee heard evidence that under the current system, specialised and targeted settlement services are mainly restricted to a small number of eligible migrants. Settlement Services International (SSI), for instance, submitted the following:
Australia is a world leader in terms of providing a comprehensive suite of support for migrants and refugees. However, there are many migrants who would benefit from this support but are unable to access it because they do not meet the eligibility criteria.
8.16Echoing this, the Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA), highlighted that ‘[t]he majority of settlement services are limited to refugees and humanitarian entrants, and other visa categories that are ultimately a relatively small subset of the overall migration intake’. Expanding on this in its submission, SCOA argued the following:
All migrants go through a process of settlement, but currently only a very small subset are eligible for any kind of support to navigate the settlement journey. Despite coming through the skilled program, some may come across circumstances that mean they require more support. Others may not need much support, but would still benefit from being able to ask someone for advice on things as simple as how the health system works, how to choose a school for their children, or other matters. The lack of support for skilled migrants and their families also has gendered impacts, as women are often very isolated while not always having the same qualifications and social capital as the primary
applicant.
8.17Currently, SCOA noted, ‘the majority of migrants to Australia arrive with little orientation and the expectation they will work it out on their own’. Ms Sandra Elhelw Wright, Chief Executive Officer, SCOA, explained that the ‘majority of skilled migrants… are not eligible for federally funded settlement services’. Continuing, she said the following:
Despite coming through the skilled program, some may come across circumstances that mean they require more support. No matter how skilled and fluent in English you are, the process of uprooting yourself and moving to another country is inherently difficult. Some might not need much support but would still benefit from being able to ask someone for advice on things as simple as how the health system works, how to choose a school for their children and how ticketing for public transport works, or other things that someone can't necessarily be expected to know automatically upon arrival.
8.18Emphasising that Australia has ‘social obligation towards’ new arrivals, SCOA argued that the existing settlement service infrastructure needed to be better leveraged ‘to support Australia’s migration system to achieve its [nation] building ambitions’. Similarly, the NSW Government submitted that:
Economic migrants and refugees also make significant contributions to create vibrant economies and socially sustainable and culturally diverse communities. Better supporting these individuals to settle, integrate and meaningfully engage in Australian society will drive positive outcomes for social cohesion, cultural diversity and nation building.
8.19On this theme, the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) stressed migrants are ‘undeniably highly motivated and capable of creating a prosperous life for themselves and their families in Australia’. Despite this, it emphasised the lack of support services as a ‘gap’ that needed filling:
It is in Australia's interest as well as migrants, to make this transition from arriving to thriving as quick and easy as possible. The current lack of consistent support on arrival for migrants outside the humanitarian stream is a clear gap and if addressed could deliver large social and economic returns with minimal investment.
8.20Expanding on this issue, Mr Mohammad Al-Khafaji, Chief Executive Officer, FECCA, informed the Committee that:
The absence of wraparound support is frequently identified in our consultation as a crucial missing piece in assisting new migrants to reach their full potential. New migrants face challenges securing housing, finding employment and navigating through systems and processes in a new country. We acknowledge the enormous work that the settlement service sector offers to humanitarian entrants, and we call for a similar wraparound support, light-touch support, through trusted community organisations and partners on the ground to be offered to migrants when they arrive here in Australia. We have developed a proposal entitled Arrive and Thrive, which outlines how such a program would work…
8.21In a document presented to the Committee, FECCA outlined its ‘Arrive and Thrive’ proposal, ‘a support program for non-humanitarian migrants to strengthen the multicultural ecosystem through a national approach to the provision of information, support and services to assist new migrants to navigate, connect and thrive in their new communities…’ Noting that an ‘essential component of successful migration is building connection, community and a sense of belonging’ and that the ‘best way to support new migrants is to start with the community, not the individual’, their proposal called for a ‘community-led, community delivered program that improves the pathways of migrants to belonging and contributing [to] the nation’.
8.22Again, highlighting the lack of broadly available, yet specialised, support services for all migrants, Ms Violet Roumeliotis, Chief Executive Officer, SSI, argued that settlement services should be provided on a basis of need, not attached to specific visa categories, such as humanitarian visas. She explained:
What we require is that, rather than applying your resources to specific visa types, it should be based on need. Many who arrive as humanitarian entrants may not need the full service offering, so you need to do what they do in Canada. When people arrive, they consider newcomers, and settlement services can meet with any newcomer, irrelevant of their visa type—whether it's skilled, family, humanitarian or refugee. Indeed, they even allow naturalised Canadians to access those services. Then you provide the services that they require.
The Canadian Approach to Settlement Services
8.23Several contributors pointed to settlement services offered in Canada as a potential exemplar for Australia to follow. SSI, for one, submitted that in Canada, settlement services ‘are referred to as “newcomer services” and are often available to refugees, permanent residents, temporary residents and even naturalised citizens on an ongoing basis’. They further noted that such an approach ‘recognises that successful settlement and integration of newcomers is critical to ensuring public support for immigration’.
8.24FECCA, meanwhile, noted that the Canadian approach ‘works on the premise that for the economic, social and cultural benefits of immigration to be realised, migrants must integrate successfully into Canadian society’.
8.25SCOA highlighted that ‘newcomer services’ in Canada ‘are highly used by skilled migrants (outside of humanitarian entrants)’ and that in 2018-19, 55 per cent of ‘Economic Class (skilled migrants) to Canada accessed employment-related services, 38 per cent accessed language training and 42 per cent accessed information/orientation services’.
8.26SCOA also reported that Canada spends ‘more than $787M [CAD]on settlement support for newcomers’, allowing it to remain ‘at a competitive advantage to Australia for talent and family members’. They suggested if Australia adopted a similar approach that ‘[b]y supporting all migrants who arrive in Australia to navigate their new lives, Australia will remain a competitive destination for global talent’.
8.27Speaking to the range of supports available to newcomers under the Canadian system, Dr Mairead MacKinnon, Policy Lead, Settlement Council of Australia, informed the Committee of the following:
From day one, and even pre-arrival, there is quite a lot of support for skilled migrants, family class migrants, and refugees, of course. It can be different levels. People who come on humanitarian visas are given similar intensive support as they are in Australia. But those who come on skilled visas are able to have employment support, referrals, support services, language training, orientation and community connections. These are all available and highly utilised by people.
Dr MacKinnon clarified that these services are funded by the Canadian Government but delivered by different organisations, with some variation across the provinces.
8.28The Refugee Council of Australia (RCoA), too, provided details about settlement services in Canada. According to the RCoA, Canada’s Resettlement Program ‘assists immigrants and refugees in overcoming barriers specific to the newcomer experience, such as a lack of official language skills and limited knowledge of Canada, so that they can participate in social, cultural, civic and economic life’. They noted that these services focus on the following areas:
- Needs assessment and referrals;
- Information and orientation;
- Language training and skills development;
- Employment-related services; and
- Community connections.
Additional services include transportation, child-care, and translation services.
8.29In addition to supports received through ‘newcomer services’, migrant workers in Canada also have access to social security. ISS explained:
In Canada, migrant workers have access to free health care under the health insurance system of the province or territory they are working. However, when they first arrive in Canada, it may take some time before they are covered by the provincial or territorial health insurance system.If there is a period where a worker is not covered by the provincial or territorial health insurance where they are working, the employer must obtain and pay for private health insurance that covers emergency medical care.
If a migrant loses their job through no fault of their own, or if they leave their job because of abuse, they may qualify to receive Employment Insurance benefits. Foreign workers employed in insurable employment are required to pay Employment Insurance (EI) premiums. Provided that all eligibility conditions are met, foreign workers are entitled to receive regular loss of employment benefits as well as other benefits related to sickness, maternity leave, parental leave, compassionate care and family caregiver benefits in the same fashion as Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
8.30By contrast, as noted by SCOA, in Australia most permanent migrants ‘have to wait up to 4 years before accessing government payments due to the newly arrived resident’s waiting period (NARWP)’. Moreover, ‘many migrants initially arrive on temporary visas before transitioning to permanent residency meaning they may be waiting many years longer before being able to access supports’.
8.31On this situation, SCOA argued the following:
The concept that permanent residents are to be taxed the same rate as citizens whilst receiving no social support from the government taxing them breaches the notions of fairness Australia is built on, with substantial impacts on Australia's social cohesion as a result. Providing income support to migrants as they begin their life in Australia is essential to their economic participation and supporting this economic growth. By providing migrants with support, we are providing them with an opportunity to effectively settle in Australia, including finding appropriate skilled employment.
They recommended that the NARWP be removed and that social security supports be made available to all migrants irrespective of visa status.
Improving Australia’s Settlement Outcomes
8.32As argued by contributors, Australia’s support offerings for new arrivals could be improved through an expansion of its coverage beyond humanitarian entrants, as in the Canadian approach. SSI, for example, argued the following:
The Settlement Engagement and Transition Support (SETS) program is an existing suitable avenue for delivering this expanded support. SETS provides support to humanitarian entrants and other eligible migrants for up to 5 years after arrival. SETS client services helps in accessing English language skills, education, employment, and domestic and family violence support among other supports. We have advocated for limitations to accessing SETS based on length of stay in Australia and visa category to be removed due to the varying settlement journey of migrants and refugees. Many migrants and refugees fall through the cracks, and will continue to do so, by not being eligible for SETS.
8.33On the expansion of settlement services, ISS made the following two recommendations:
- The Australian Government should broaden eligibility to settlement support and ensure adequate resourcing to meet future demand. This will ensure that a greater breadth of newcomers have the support they need to integrate and fully contribute to the community. Access to settlement support should be based on need rather than length of residency in Australia.
- The Australian Government should ensure a more targeted focus in the Adult Migrant English Program to engage women in the family migration stream and humanitarian program including more flexible options that allow for caring responsibilities and address barriers to participation.
- A key element in any expanded settlement services for newcomers would need to be support for migrants to join the workforce, as is done in Canada. Several contributors noted the tendency for migrants to be underutilised in the job market vis-à-vis their level of qualifications and skills, and suggested that more targeted employment services for migrants would help maximise their job prospects. The NSW Government, for example, argued that:
Australia would benefit from the migration system enabling the greatest and most appropriate skill utilisation for all visa holders – both to maximise their contribution to nation building as well as to promote their individual social and economic wellbeing.
8.35The Government of South Australia pointed out that ‘[i]n recent years, several research reports have suggested that highly skilled migrants are being underutilised in Australia's labour market, with a substantial proportion working at a lower skill level than their qualifications and experience.’
8.36Indeed, the Productivity Commission’s (PC) 5-year Productivity Inquiry report suggested that there is evidence that ‘systematic mismatches can occur between migrant skill and jobs in the labour market’. The PC cited evidence from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) that while 55 per cent of skilled migrants work in their nominated field and 15 per cent work at the same or higher level than their nominated field, 30 per cent ‘work in jobs that involve lower skills than those in their nominated occupation or are unemployed.’ Additionally, they noted that for ‘migrants arriving between 2013 and 2018, the degree of skills mismatch in their first 18 months of arrival resulted in forgone wages of $1.25 billion’.
8.37The PC suggested that a factor in this mismatch between migrant skill level and occupation was ‘the barriers that migrants face once they arrive in Australia’. Explaining, the PC cited research that ‘found that labour market outcomes for skilled migrants are affected by employers’ “devaluation” of some foreign qualifications’.
8.38The Australian Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, cited research quantifying the issue and tying it to a lack of recognition of skilled migrants’ qualifications:
A report by Deloitte Access Economics (2018) suggested that in Queensland, for example, 49 in every 100 skilled migrants are not utilising the skills and experience gained before arriving in Australia, often due to lack of recognition of their qualification (25 per cent). Improved recognition processes that clearly indicate where international qualifications are equivalent to Australian qualifications is needed.
8.39Consult Australia reported that 28 per cent of migrants who were qualified as civil engineers ‘were unable to find work in the occupation with reasons including lack of recognition of overseas skills and qualifications, employer reluctance to employ individuals without local experience, lack of understanding of Australian standards and English language barriers’.
8.40On this, the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) suggested that the Australian Government consider developing ‘educative programs to increase the awareness of migrants’ overseas qualifications and abilities, as another means of increasing labour market potential and participation’. The MIA also pointed out that ‘overseas work experience can be routinely dismissed and Australian work experience can be difficult to gain because of the resistance by local employers’. Similarly, Ms Catherine Scarth, Chief Executive Officer, AMES Australia, informed the Committee that it was ‘critical to engage employers to lift their awareness of the valuable skills and experience migrants bring’.
8.41AMES Australia, further, highlighted the wastage of skills resulting from this situation:
The provision of highly targeted Settlement Services for skilled migrants would avoid wastage of skills and opportunities for migrants, their families, industry and the economy. Several studies demonstrate billions of dollars wasted due to skilled migrant skills underutilisation.
8.42The ISS called the underutilisation of existing skilled migrants a lost opportunity for the economy:
Most discussion of migration as a response to labour and skills shortages has focussed on policies to increase the number of people coming into the country. This is a lost opportunity as newcomers who are already here are often unemployed, underemployed or working in positions well below their skill and qualification level.
8.43Like other contributors, the Government of South Australia also cited the Canadian example as an appropriate model for extending specialised employment services to migrants as a component of wider settlement services, suggesting that the Canadian approach is important as ‘the leading example of settlement support for skilled migrants and “bridging the gap” between new migrants and the employment vacancies suitable to their skills and experience’. Its submission further emphasised that the Canadians offer a suite of services to assist migrant integration into the job market…
…at both the pre-and post-arrival stage. Integration into the Canadian workplace and securing suitable employment is a key focus of the pre-arrival settlement support in Canada, with a network of organisations providing access to online job fairs to learn about potential employers, access to employer-interactive webinars, job matching platforms, sector specific mentor programs and online courses.
Industry specific assistance and information is also facilitated at both the national and jurisdictional level with organisations providing job leads, one-to-one support with employment consultants, recruitment and networking events, interviews and job searching training and resume development.
8.44For implementation in the Australian context, the Government of South Australia argued that it would require partnership between government and industry and mechanisms to improve ‘the connection of recent migrants with the available job vacancies suited to the skills and experience’. Additionally, it emphasised that Australian governments ‘must also work with industry to improve employers’ understanding and perception of employing migrants, particularly those without Australian experience’.
8.45The MIA, meanwhile, recommended that the Australian Government ‘implements campaigns and initiatives to educate industry and employers to discrimination as a barrier to participation in the Australian labour market for skilled migrants, family and humanitarian visa holders’.
8.46SCOA advocated for a more ‘client-centred-approach’ to employment services for migrants (and to settlement services, more generally), arguing that ‘if newcomers are able to get individualised and tailored employment support, this has the potential to fast-track their occupational journey and maximise earning potential, thereby optimising the social and economic benefits for Australia as a whole’. Realising such a vision, however, would require a ‘significant shift in how most employment services currently operate’. SCOA contended that such an approach ‘should neither focus on getting migrants into “any job” nor support a long period of unemployment waiting for a job aligned with their profession. Rather, good supports would map the complex pathway of getting back into ones chosen profession, and work alongside them as they navigate that pathway’.
8.47SCOA, further, emphasised that such employment services must also offer access to vocational training opportunities. As pointed out by SCOA, ‘[t]raining is key to make sure people are both prepared for a certain job, but also in a job they want and enjoy doing’, stressing that this ‘requires staff at both settlement organisations, but also employment providers to provide culturally responsive training, advice and job support’.
8.48Finally, SCOA argued that:
Employment is a core part of settlement, and settlement services do most of the work of supporting people into finding employment but without the infrastructure that would be available to them if they were delivering employment services. Settlement and employment are inseparable.
On this, SCOA recommended that Workforce Australia contracts be granted to settlement services providers grounded in local communities as they are best placed to deliver specialised employment services in support of migrants.
8.49On this issue, SSI made the following two recommendations:
- ‘The Australian Government should develop more tailored and targeted employment support response for newcomers, especially newcomers in the family and humanitarian streams and secondary applicants in the skilled stream – and pay particular attention to migrant and refugee women which sees them as new entrants to the workforce.’
- ‘The Australian Government’s suite of employment services, including the newly established Workforce Australia, should provide targeted support, and ensure adequate coverage by culturally responsive providers in geographic areas of indicative high demand, to people from CALD backgrounds and refugees. This would address barriers they face and support them across their employment journey spanning job-readiness, pre-employment training, paid work experience, effective job-matching and post-employment support.’
- The Committee also heard that settlement services must encompass an element of community capacity building to promote the wider integration of migrants. On this, the Australian Migrant Resource Centre (AMRC) argued the following:
Settlement support must include capacity building of the wider community as a whole not just new and emerging communities as well as other mainstream sectors including employment. When people have a sense of belonging they are set to thrive and contribute highly, giving more back to the community compared to what they receive through settlement support.
The AMRC recommended that ‘[s]ettlement [services]… be expanded for all new arrival migrants and refugees according to need, not based on visa types or years in Australia. This will ensure better skill utilisation of skilled migrants and better access to vocational services, networks and programs.’.
8.51Echoing the AMRC’s suggestion for better capacity building within the broader community to improve the integration process of migrants, Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Lorraine Finlay, highlighted how successful integration strategies need to be based on broad support at the community level:
It is a broader issue in terms of community and family integration. It is about ensuring that there is broader community connection so that in all of those things like housing, transport, education, health care a person is able to feel as though they are a part of a community and engaged with that community. But it's also about ensuring that we don't just deal with the individual alone, but we deal with the family as well and recognise the need to allow a family to feel as though they are part of the community and that there are opportunities for them to really engage and build a life and not just be seen as a temporary entrants to a community who will come and go, but as people who are actually making a lasting contribution.
Committee Comment
8.52The Committee is acutely aware that the choice to uproot lives and migrate to a different country, potentially with very different languages, and cultural, social, political, and economic systems, is a major life decision that often involves an arduous path for migrants to travel. And while both the migrant and the receiving country, on aggregate, benefit from the outcomes of migration, fulsome settlement supports both pre- and post-arrival can potentially bolster these benefits further.
8.53While Australia currently offers a suite of world-leading settlement services, as heard in evidence, much of this is restricted to humanitarian entrants and other vulnerable migrant cohorts.
8.54The Committee agrees with suggestions that the Canadian model of ‘newcomer services’ offers one example for Australia to look to when considering how our settlement services can better aid the social and economic integration of migrants.
8.55Centrally, the Committee believes that eligibility for settlement services should be broadened to all migrants on the basis of need and that migrants be triaged pre- and post-arrival in order to be offered access to services tailored to the individual needs of migrants and their families.
8.56Such an approach recognises that, irrespective of visa category, some migrants require more support than others. Importantly, access to such supports must be made available to secondary applicants and holders of family visas to help maximise the economic and social participation of all migrant groups and sub-categories.
8.57A vital element of any such expansion of settlement services would involve employment supports intended to allow migrants to connect to potential employers and fully utilise their skills, knowledge, experience, and qualifications.
8.58Noting that there may be some inhibitions for Australian businesses in employing some migrant workers due to a lack of confidence in qualifications, skills, and experience gathered overseas, the Committee sees a role for the Australian Government to foster a higher level of confidence in migrant workers among Australian employers.
8.59Largely in-line with the recommendations of the Settlement Services International, the Committee makes the following recommendations.
8.60The Committee recommends that the Australian Government adopts the Canadian model to broaden eligibility to settlement services to all migrants on the basis of need, (1) with an emphasis in stronger local partnerships to improve outcomes and integration and (2) including better tailored and targeted employment supports for migrants
8.61The Committee recommends that the Australian Government improves the existing public relations program to increase the level of confidence that Australian employers have in skills, experience, and qualifications acquired by migrants overseas.
Reforming the Points Test—Secondary Applicants
8.62Some contributors to the inquiry emphasised how few permanent visa grantees are assessed for their skills. The Grattan Institute, for instance, informed the Committee of the following:
Only one-quarter of permanent visas issued over the past decade actually assessed migrant skills; another one in three went to the families of these skilled migrants; and the rest came by the family and humanitarian streams—reflecting the diverse objectives of our migration program.
8.63In quantitative terms, this amounts to almost 1.4 million permanent visas being granted over the past decade ‘without any consideration of migrants’ skills as skilled secondary applicants, or those on family, or humanitarian visas’.
8.64The Committee heard evidence that the skills and experience of secondary applicants of skilled visas grantees, in particular, could be better accounted for by the migration system to produce more beneficial outcomes for Australia.
8.65A ‘secondary applicant’, or ‘secondary migrant’, is a spouse, de facto partner, or child who accompanies a primary visa holder into the country. Under the current skilled migration program, secondary applicants of primary skilled visa applicants are included in planning numbers for skilled migrants. And while secondary migrants make up over 55 per cent of the overall skilled migration intake the system gives limited consideration to their skills, experience, and qualifications when assessing the visa application of the primary applicant.
8.66As noted in the Review of the Migration System, ‘48,041 places of the 89,063 places in the permanent skilled migrant stream were taken by secondary applicants in 2021-2022’. Secondary applicants also are not provided specialised supports to fully realise their employment potential and aid in their integration following arrival.
8.67The Grattan Institute noted that while secondary applicants tend to have relatively weaker English ability than primary applicants, they also tend to have ‘significantly more education than the general Australian population (See Figures 8.1 and 8.2 below).
Figure 8.2English Language Ability - Incumbent, Primary Applicant, and Secondary Applicant
Source: Grattan Institution, Submission 17, p. 66.
Figure 8.3Highest Educational Achievement - Incumbents, Primary Applicants, and Secondary Applicants
Source: Grattan Institution, Submission 17, p. 66.
8.68The Department of Home Affairs submitted that ‘[w]hile many secondary applicants (spouses and partners) are also highly skilled, they tend to have lower rates of labour force participation and to be less likely to work in highly skilled roles (with labour force patterns more similar to the Australian working age population).’
8.69As noted by the Grattan Institute, this is because ‘more secondary applicants are women who are outside of the labour market because they are caring for children’ and in the long term, ‘the workforce participation and incomes of secondary applicants who are caregivers today is likely to rise and better reflect their skills and qualifications, albeit remain lower than that of primary applicants’.
8.70When questioned about the amount of information the Department of Home Affairs gathers about secondary applicants, the Migration Institute of Australia informed the Committee that a ‘large amount of information is collected about the skills and experience of secondary applicants during the visa application process’. Continuing, they noted:
Adult applicants for permanent visas are generally required to complete the Department of Home Affairs Form 80 or Form 1221 which includes questions on the applicant’s entire education and employment history.Applicants lodging Expressions of Interest for General Skilled Migration visas are also allocated extra points if they indicate their partner has an occupation on the skills lists.
It would appear that it may be the underutilisation of this data, rather than lack of data that is at issue. This data could be mined for the purpose of recognising secondary applicants’ skills and experience or data collection increased during the application process.
8.71Given the significant place of secondary skilled visa applicants in the total skilled migration program, the Grattan Institute, made the following suggestion:
More consideration should be given to the skills of secondary applicants who account for roughly half of all permanent skilled visas granted each year. Points offered via the test for different migrant characteristics should be re-calibrated to reflect the contribution those characteristics make to migrants’ contribution to the welfare of the Australian community.
8.72Elaborating on this, Mr Trent Wiltshire, Migration and Labour Markets Deputy Program Director, Grattan Institute, argued the following:
The number of points allocated to the skills and experience of spouses should be increased. This would shift the allocation of permanent skilled worker visas to include more partners with better skills and English-language proficiency, and more qualifications and job experience. High-skilled primary applicants with comparatively unskilled partners would be discouraged from applying to Australia, and would be less likely to be granted a permanent position if they did so.
8.73Vialto Partners made a similar point to this, recommending that an ‘increase in points be allocated to applicants who are accompanied by family members (usually spouses or partners) who meet certain skill criteria’. Expanding on this, they argued the following:
Consideration should also be given to employer sponsored visa applicants with family members (usually spouses or partners) who meet Australia’s skills criteria. At present, partners of employer sponsored visa entrants have the benefit of full working rights in Australia. There are limited mechanisms in the current migration system to prioritise family units where more than one member has skills. We recommend these family units be afforded with priority visa processing to help Australia meet its skills needs faster.
8.74When asked about how the skilled visa application process could better take into account the skills, qualifications, and experience of secondary applicants, the then Secretary of the Department Home Affairs replied with the following:
It's just a matter of law and the way that the law is designed. If you changed the policy and the parliament legislated a change to how the points are allocated, you could do that tomorrow. It's what I said earlier: in a democracy, ministers set the direction and parliament legislates. We would administer a program where more points were given. You've heard the evidence here of our thinking about how to redesign the system. Our delegates then could have regard to a two-for-one package, where you get the primary applicant but, through the information entered in the application, it might be that the other partner is not in the workforce, for whatever reason—perhaps to do with family choices and the rest of it—but down the track they might be available and they would be given a higher priority. We just apply the law as it is written. If you change the law, we'll apply it differently.
8.75When asked a follow-up question on precisely what law needed to change, Mr Pezzullo, replied that ‘[i]t's the ability of our delegates to assign value to credentials, qualifications and talent to someone who is not applying for a visa… And you've got to have a provision for that in the Migration Act’.
8.76Continuing on this theme, Ms Tara Cavanagh, then First Assistant Secretary, Immigration Integrity explained to the Committee that:
Our act is quite old now. It's really been designed in a way where what we call the primary applicant has to meet the criteria around age, language, skill and qualifications et cetera. Family members just need to demonstrate that they are, in fact, a family member of that primary applicant. Of course, that can be legislated differently in a future system.
Committee Comment
8.77The Committee recognises that spouses and children of primary visa applicants should be encouraged to accompany primary visa applicants on their journey to Australia, irrespective of type of visa, if it is their wish to do so. Coming with supportive family members aids in the integration of migrants into the Australian community and promotes the long-term goals of social cohesion.
8.78At the same time, the Committee believes that there is room to raise the community impact from skilled migration applicants by giving more consideration to the skills and experience of secondary applicants of skilled migrants. While noting that secondary applicants to skilled migrants, on average, have higher educational achievement compared to the general Australian population, the skills, experience, and qualifications of secondary applicants are not currently factored into the visa application process in any thorough way. This is despite secondary applicants currently accounting for over 50 per cent of skilled migration allocation. It seems like a lost opportunity to not finesse the points test to better account for the skills and experience of these applicants.
8.79A points test that can allocate higher points to relevant skills and qualifications of a secondary applicant would greatly increase the attractiveness of Australia as a migration destination for highly skilled couples.
8.80The Committee also sees room to improve the settlement support offerings targeted to secondary applicants to maximise both their workforce and social participation, in-line with the recommendation in the previous section.
8.81The Committee Recommends that the Australian Government amend the Migration Act 1958, to better account for the skills and experience of secondary applicants in the points test for skilled migration visa applicants.