The pressure has been caused by a massive surge in skilled worker demand. The resources industry is booming and growing faster every month. Since the country is reaching full employment the government is under pressure to find workers from overseas to support the industries massive growth. Miners are the highest paid workers in the country so the appeal to migrants is always high.
There is a major skills shortage that can’t be addressed by locally sourced workers and the government are being bombarded with requests from the large mining companies to increase the number of skilled migrant workers allowed into the country. The Business Council of Australia has also called for the government to increase the migration level.
Both the major business leaders and the Business council have suggested raising the migration limits to 180,000 to service the increased demand for workers but the Immigration Department report that the migration level has dropped to 179,600, a significant drop from the 2008 peak of 315,000.
The Treasury Department has also created briefs that show short term population growth is inevitable but it also sustainable. The economy’s growth is driving the number of skilled workers required in all industries and the department state that the economy shouldn’t be inhibited by a strict immigration policy that will hinder the country.
The Treasury’s finding has echoed the requests from businesses and the Business Council to increase the number of skilled migrants allowed into the country so that the economy can continue to growth. However the prime minister built her political campaign on a strong stance of restricting the number of migrants into the country and so faces an extremely tough decision over the next few weeks.