Skills in a post-COVID Australia

MIAL represents organisations working within the Australian maritime industry whose employees work in a range of roles, including seagoing roles and non-seagoing roles.

MIAL’s membership includes ship owners who crew their ships with Ship’s Engineers and Ship’s Officers. A shortage of these roles was demonstrated by MIAL’s Seafaring Skills Census 2018 that surveyed the breadth of the Australian industry. In response to this Committee’s call for submissions into its terms of reference in reviewing the Skilled Migration Program, MIAL has consulted with its members who have confirmed an ongoing need for skilled workers in these roles (in particular Ship’s Engineer), as well as the role of Electro Technical Officer which was introduced into the classifications of the Seagoing Industry Award 2020 in November 2020.

Currently, the only skilled visa options available to employers seeking to sponsor migrants in the aforementioned roles are visa subclasses 494 and 187. That means that employer sponsorship of these roles under Australia’s Skilled Migration Program is limited to regional areas or to permanent visa types. These limitations often preclude MIAL members from filling vacant roles where they have not succeeded in attracting Australian workers, preventing the economic contributions that would ordinarily result.

The shortage of available and suitably qualified workers for these roles is anticipated to continue in Australia.