New immigration plan aims to boost Aussie economy

The federal budget for 2023–24 has come and gone, with some introductions aimed at boosting the economy.

Visas and immigration were a focus, with the government planning to ramp up the influx of people in order to strengthen the talent market.

The government allocated $125.8 million over the next four years to the migration system. The 2023–24 Migration Program will see the influx of people return to 190,000, with around 70 per cent of these people being allocated into the Skilled stream.

The government described this program as “designed to attract migrants who make a significant contribution to the Australian economy, and fill positions where no Australian workers are available. Skilled migrants have very high participation rates in the workforce, helping to stimulate economic growth, which results in more jobs.”

The Migration Program will see $75.8 million of the funds being used to extend the current visa processing resources in order to improve the current visa system. Furthermore, visa application charges will rise by 6 per cent.

Dimitrios Katsaros, director and senior lawyer at Katsaros and Associates Lawyers, commented on the changes: “The reality is that a combination of factors over recent years have seen net migration, not only slow down significantly but essentially drop, which in turn has had a detrimental effect on the broader Australian economy.

“The abolition of the 457 visa and the introduction of the 482 visa some years ago created a division between occupations which could lead to permanent residence, this having the overall effect of exponentially growing what has come to be known as ‘permanent temporary migrants’.”

Mr Katsaros said that this boost in migration would not only repair Australia’s reputation but would also be the start of an overhauled migration system.

“Migrants that have been here years on end, contributing to the Australian economy and broader community, yet being shut out of any real opportunity to achieve permanent residency in Australia. Border closures during the pandemic only added fuel to an already raging fire, which was destroying Australia’s reputation as being one of the better destinations for economic migrants throughout the world,” Mr Katsaros explained.

“This year’s federal budget goes some way to start the process of repairing a tired migration system, which is become overly complex, completely under-resourced and unjustifiably expensive. Reforms aim at restoring pathways to permanent residency for migrants, who hold occupations across all industries, which are experiencing critical labour shortages.”

He concluded: “We can only hope that this marks the beginning of an overhaul of an outdated immigration system which fails to assist Australian businesses and the hundreds of thousands of migrants who contribute to the Australian workforce.”