January 21, 2010
The Australian government has taken a series of measures to
shield Australian workers from competition with cheap foreign
workers from overseas.
The 457 Temporary work visa program has been reviewed to force
employers to grant the same pay to skilled overseas workers as
their Australian counterparts.
The change will come into effect starting from January 2010.
According to Australia’s Minister for Immigration and Chris
Evans, the changes serve two purposes:
“It ensures overseas workers are not brought in more cheaply
to undercut Australian workers and their conditions”. Secondly it
ensures that Australian workers aren’t disadvantaged because
overseas workers will now be more expensive and preference will go
to Australian workers.” (Read Mr Evans’ speech
here)
He also reiterated the Australian government’s committment to
ensure that Australian workers are not disadvantaged in the labor
market:
“The objective of the subclass 457 visa is to ensure that
skilled workers are able to come to Australia quickly to meet
industry, economic and labour market needs without impacting on the
employment and training opportunities of Australians or undermining
their terms and conditions. Consistent with that objective the Rudd
Government has made it clear that overseas workers are not to be
employed ahead of Australians.”
As of 2008, 25 per cent of Australia’s 21.6 million population
are born overseas. Australia remains the top emigration
destinations in the world despite its stringent immigration
criteria.
Unlike Singapore which accepts any Tom, Dick and Harry without
any proper screening, Australia only accepts foreigners who pass a
basic English Proficiency Test or the IELTS.
Foreigners are only employed in selected sectors lacking
manpower and it varies from one state to another.
To even qualify to apply for Australian PR, a foreigner must
spend three out of the last five years entirely in Australia.
In contrast, Singapore gives out its PR and citizenships freely
like toilet papers to foreigners some of whom are construction
workers, cleaners, masseurs and prostitutes.
The celebrated Chinese national and Singapore PR Zhang Yuanyuan
who insulted the entire nation by proclaiming her loyalty to China
on CCTV7 revealed that she received her Singapore PR within 2
months of application.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said in Parliament lately
that two out of every three PR applicants are successful, an
astonishingly high succcess rate for a developed nation. In 2008,
there are more than 90,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reassured Singaporeans in his New
Year Day message that they remain a “priority” for his
administration, but has done nothing to show otherwise.
Foreigners are allowed to compete directly with Singaporeans in
jobs which can be filled easily by them such as administrators,
cashiers, accounts executive, clinic assistants etc, yet the ruling
party kept insisting that foreigners are only employed in sectors
shunned by locals.
In a recent letter to The Temasek Review, Courts CEO Mr Terry O’
Connor explained that his company has no choice but to put up an
advertisement to employ Malaysians in Johor because the take-up
rate for the positions on offer among locals is very low. (read
letter
here)
He declined to reveal the terms and conditions including the
basic salaries and working hours offered to Singaporeans.
As there is no opposition in Parliament to check on the ruling
party, there is absolutely no political pressure on it to fine-tune
its policies to serve the interests of Singaporeans.
Foreign workers help to reduce labor costs and in turn
contributes to economic growth. A certain proportion of the
annual salaries of Singapore’s millionaire ministers is pegged to
GDP growth figures – the higher it is, the more money they will get
from Singapore taxpayers.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial wrote that the relentless
influx of foreigners had depressed the wages of ordinary
Singaporeans, lowered labor productivity, increased the cost of
living and led to an overall decrease in the standards of living.
(read article
here)
During a walk-about session at Hong Kah GRC, Law Minister
Shanmugam told the media that many companies are recruiting
Singaporeans as cleaners, but there are few takers for the job as
Singaporeans, especially the young, do not like long working hours
or shift work.
“Most Singaporeans prefer office job and choose to give up
jobs such as cleaners,” he added.
In a frank interview with journalist Mark Jacobson from the
National Geographic magazine, Singapore’s octogenarian leader Lee
Kuan Yew defendeed the ruling party’s liberal immigration and
pro-foreigner policies.
Though he said he was aware of the fact that “many Singaporeans
are unhappy with the influx of immigrants”, he continued to insist
that it is for “good” of the nation:
“Over time, Singaporeans have become less hard-driving and
hard-striving. This is why it is a good thing that the nation has
welcomed so many Chinese immigrants.” Lee was quoted
saying.
Lee described the country’s new subjects as “hungry,” with
parents who “pushed the children very hard.”
“If native Singaporeans are falling behind because the spurs
are not stuck into the hide, that is their problem,” he
quipped.
[Source:
The Singapore
Solution]
Compare the speeches made by Singapore leaders to that made by
Australian leaders and it is not hard to understand why that
despite its ultra-liberal immigration policies, many foreigners
prefer to emigrate to Australia than Singapore.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/01/21/australia-reviews-its-visa-program-to-protect-locals-from-competition-with-foreign-workers-unlike-singapore/