Key Points
- Anthony Albanese has addressed the issues of migration and visa backlogs.
- He also announced a jobs and skills summit.
Anthony Albanese has addressed the issues of migration and visa backlogs in relation to skills shortages, saying Australia needs to create better pathways for workers to have a permanent presence in the country.
The Labor government had inherited a "massive" backlog in visas, the prime minister told reporters on Monday.
"It is absurd at a time of skills shortages, there have people who have been waiting for such a long period of time," the prime minister said.
"We do have some short-term skills shortages that will always need to be filled by temporary migration".
Mr Albanese said temporary migration would continue to play a role, but also indicated the possibility of more long-term or permanent options.
"One of the things that we can consider, that I've spoken about, is — how is (it) that for some particular professions, that have been short of supply for such a long period of time, we continue to rely on temporary migration rather than more permanent forms?"
He said allowing more permanent forms would make a "significant difference".
"We have a global labour market, we need to acknowledge that," he said.
"And we need to make sure that we have better pathways as well to a permanent presence in Australia for people to give us the skills that they need."
Jobs summit
The comments came during a press conference announcing a jobs and skill summit to be held at Parliament House in September.
The prime minister said the government intends to bring together businesses, unions, civil society groups and other levels of government.
Mr Albanese said the summit would bring together business groups, unions, civil society and levels of government.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that ideas raised at the summit could be included in the October budget.
"We've deliberately chosen to put this jobs and skills summit before the October budget that we'll be handing down because there may be steps proposed and agreed to at the summit which could be implemented quickly," he said.
"We don't want to pre-empt what may come out of it, but if it's possible that if there is common ground found and agreement found at the summit, if we can move quickly, we will."
Mr Albanese said Australia faced a once-in-a-generation challenge during the COVID-19 period
"But it opens up as well a once-in-a-generation opportunity for how we grow back stronger from the COVID pandemic," he said.
"We also need to have some real discussions about productivity and how we move it forward."
The agenda for the summit will be released by the end of July.
It's expected the goals from the summit will include a better trained workforce, a boost to incomes and living standards and the creation of better opportunities for people in more parts of the country.
Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said it was a shame Labor did not present a comprehensive employment policy to voters ahead of the election.
"If the government is serious about building genuine consensus behind the summit and the resulting white paper, they must ensure parliamentarians from all parties, including the opposition, have a seat around the table in September," he told news agency AAP.
Individual ministers will also lead work in relation to the summit based on their portfolios.
However, Mr Albanese said tax policies would not be on the agenda.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said she hoped the talks would find solutions to systemic issues.
"We have a chance to build a stronger, more inclusive workforce which will generate the economic growth that we need to recover from the pandemic and share the success of our economy more evenly," she said.
"We must rebuild our manufacturing industry and work together to build the skills we need for the jobs of the future."
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the summit would be a chance to reset the economy.
"Our economy is poised for a world-beating recovery but it hinges on our ability to bring everyone to the table and find common purpose to sustainably drive new investment, productivity and stronger growth," she said.
