Coalition says skills recognition changes must match visa plans
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced skilled migration changes on 17 September 2026, but an advocacy coalition says the plan must be matched by faster skills recognition.
In an address to the National Press Club, Burke outlined a redesigned skilled migration points test. The new approach will give greater priority to occupations in construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture and trades.
Burke also announced priority processing for healthcare, construction, education, law enforcement, defence, resources and agriculture under the skilled migration program.
Activate Australia’s Skills campaign director Dane Moores welcomed the focus on workforce shortages, but argued that attracting qualified migrants is only part of the task.
“Skilled migration has an important role to play in addressing workforce shortages, but selecting the right people is only half the answer. We also need to make sure people can actually use those skills once they get here,” Mr Moores said.
He called for a skills and qualifications recognition system that is faster, fairer and more affordable, so qualified migrants can move into jobs sooner.
According to the coalition, almost half of permanent migrants in Australia are working below their skill level. It says that mismatch leaves businesses and essential services short of staff while trained workers remain underused.
The group says more than 1,000 plumbers and 1,300 electricians are driving Ubers and stacking shelves instead of working in their trades.
Priority sectors already have underused workers
Moores argued that the occupations chosen for migration priority overlap with fields where thousands of qualified migrants are already in Australia but not working at their full level.
Those fields include more than 20,000 qualified teachers, 16,000 nurses and 5,000 psychologists, the coalition says.
“Australia invited these people here, but too often our systems stop them from contributing at their full potential due to barriers unrelated to their skills, like excessive fees, slow processes, a lack of information and maze of bureaucracy,” Mr Moores said.
He said the migration reforms and skills recognition changes should go hand in hand if Australia wants to get the full benefit from new arrivals and from people already here.
Moores also said any pathway from migration to employment must keep the high standards Australians expect while removing barriers that are not linked to a worker’s actual ability.
In the May budget, the federal government committed to consult on a Skills Recognition Commissioner, according to Moores. He said close to 140 businesses, civil society groups and unions support that proposal.
Moores said consultation on the commissioner is expected to begin in 2027 and urged the government to start sooner. The government did not give a start date for the redesigned points test or the priority processing changes.
