Labor criticised for not adding key construction roles in priority skilled migration list

A key building industry group says they are “dismayed” after key construction workers were left off a revamped list detailing skilled migrants who can access visas, saying the oversight will only inflame Australia’s housing crisis and labour shortage. Despite this, occupations including yoga instructors, dog trainers, flower growers, beauty therapists and jewellery designers made the cut in the new Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) released on Tuesday. A previous draft iteration of the list was lashed for failing to include construction industry jobs such as plumbers, carpenter joiners and bricklayers, jobs which have since been added. The list covers the construction, agriculture, cyber security, health, and education sectors, and is designed to fill jobs shortages by giving applicants temporary and permanent migration pathways. While Master Builders chief executive Denita Wawn welcomed the additions of some roles, she said the omission of 15 key roles would exacerbate chronic labour shortages amid a housing crisis. This included machinery operators such as drillers, bulldozer, excavator, and hoist and lift operators. “You can’t build a house, schools, hospitals or roads without crane, bulldozer and excavator operators, who have not made the cut,” she said. “The evidence speaks for itself – all building and construction industry occupation groups remain in shortage and should be on the list.” Ms Wawn said labour shortages were the biggest drivers of housing costs and construction delays. “We’ve seen construction costs increase by 40 per cent over the last five years and build times from approvals to completions blow out by over 44 per cent over the same time period,” she said. “The federal government has missed an opportunity to signal to the industry and the community that they are really committed to fixing the housing crisis and addressing labour shortages.” However Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Tuesday’s announcement was an “important step to attract qualified workers to help build more homes,” and said the government remained “determined to tackle the skills shortage, especially in the construction sector”. Labor is also set to make further announcements on the new Skills in Demand visa which will replace the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa from Saturday. Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles said the new list would address “genuine skills gaps in the economy, and works in conjunction with our work to train Australians”. “While the Liberals created the worst skills shortage in 50 years they were in office, the Albanese government is prioritising workers who can help to build the houses Australians need,” he said. A joint statement from Coalition skills spokeswoman Sussan Ley, housing spokesman Michael Sukkar and immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said Labor had prioritised wushu martial arts and yoga instructors ahead of bricklayers, painters, roof tilers and stonemasons. “Australians are experiencing a housing crisis coupled with a shortage of skilled workers, meanwhile Labor is inviting more non-critical workers – including yoga teachers – to apply for skills visas while excluding tradies from being fast-tracked,” the statement said. “In this financial year commencing on July 1 there have only been nine temporary skilled visa grants to bricklayers.” However its understood yoga teachers and martial arts instructors were included on list due to free trade agreements with China and India minted under a former Coalition government when Mr Tehan was immigration minister.