Labor pushes cancellation of Australian 457 visas and gas crisis offshore

The Labor Party of Australia has been informed that oil rigs offshore could be at risk if there are changes that would take place to the foreign worker visas such as the 457 and 400 visas. On the 2^nd of May 2016 in Parliament, the Labor Party has put on the table proposals for visas of foreign workers employed in the gas and oil industry to be cancelled.

The ones who were against the proposals, according to published The Australian comments, state that should the visas of these foreign workers be cancelled, it could end up in the critical parts of the industry to be completely shut down. And in doing so, it could cost hundreds of millions going down the drain, not to mention the infliction of huge damage in Australia’s reputation.

However, Mr Kim Carr, a Labor Senator, said that he had plans to continue with the motion of disallowance under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA). A disallowance motion is a move which can end up in having changes in the law.

Senator Carr’s disallowance motions, should it become successful, is going to result in different facilities like drilling and oil rigs to not be able to hire foreign workers on highly skilled 457 and 400 visas anymore.

”We will proceed with the disallowance motion because there has been far too many abuses of the 457 visa regime,” stated Senator Carr.

Once the 457 visa changes are put into effect, it is going to cause grave problems for the Australian economy, especially the oil and gas sector.

With projects that are worth more than $200 billion either in full operation or are about to begin, it is feared by the oil and gas sector that the disallowance motion put forth by Senator Carr is going to result in highly priced delays to activities such as construction, exploration, and extraction.

The disallowance motion of Mr Carr comes in the midst of the Maritime Union of Australia’s pursuance of a challenge to the High Court in opposing the visa proposals of the government in the oil and gas sector. The Maritime Union of Australia is an organisation which represents more than 10,000 of the sea workers of the country. According to the report released by The Australian, a ‘ministerial exemption of vessels from Australia’s migrant zone’ is part of the government’s plans.

The plans for the removal of these overseas workers from the industry sector came after a huge campaign back in 2015 headed by the Labor Party and a number of Australian unions that are in opposition of the milestone China free trade deal’s labour provisions as it saw the lifting of labour-market testing provisions as well as the scrapping of skills assessment which was meant to be mandatory for all.

The head of the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), Mr Steve Knott, wrote to the Immigration spokesman for the opposition, Mr Richard Marles, giving him a warning that the motion for disallowance is going to start an ‘imminent crisis’ if the Senate decides to back it up.

Gas and Oil Rigs may need to leave the country should the changes to the Australian 457 visa push through

In the letter written by Mr Knott addressed to Mr Marles, he stated that keeping the sector from using workers from overseas is only going to end up with more delays and will most likely cause damage to the international reputation of the country. He also added that it will force the domestic drill crews from working and could also end up with rigs leaving Australia completely.

”Every 1 of the 6 or 7 offshore drill rigs that are currently operating off the coast of Australia would have several international expats on board under 400 or 457 visas,” Mr Knott wrote. ”These are key senior people who travel around the world with the rig.”

”The cost of running each rig is in the realm of $1 million per day,” he added.

”If those senior personnel are not able to work because the regulation has been disallowed, the junior Australian drill crew cannot work either and they would have to be stood down,” Mr Knott further wrote. ”It would be impossible to get an Australian worker to work those rigs and the rigs would have to leave Australia.”

Mr Knott’s letter which was also copied to the leader of the Labor Party, Mr Bill Shorten, has also touched on the subject of ‘procedural issue’ in Parliament, which, according to Mr Knott, ‘heightens the urgency of the situation and the potential damage.’

”By disallowing the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Regulation of 2015, the key parliamentary instrument which specifies appropriate visas for foreign workers, parliament would effectively be washing its hands of the issue,” he also stated in the letter.

Mr Knott also said that because a disallowed regulation by parliament can only be resubmitted after a duration of 6 months, the government won’t be able to do much about it and in the process will leave ‘no scope to provide work rights and certainty.’

Mr Peter Dutton, the minister of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, said that it was ‘completely irresponsible’ when asked to describe the decision of the Labor party to disallow the regulation.

Source: WorkPermit.com