FECCA today welcomed the recognition from the Federal Government of the importance of diversity in the aged care workforce, but cautioned against relying on visa arrangements to meet workforce shortages in the sector.
The comments come after the Federal Government announced a new scheme that enables aged care providers to sponsor aged care workers from overseas through a Temporary Skill Shortage visa or an Employer Nomination Scheme visa.
FECCA Chairperson Ms Mary Patetsos said the Federal Government should focus on investing in training local workers to meet the needs of the sector.
"FECCA welcomes the recognition from the Federal Government that diversity within the aged care workforce is critical to providing quality care to older Australians," she said.
"The aged care and disability sectors will need a competent and skilled workforce that matches the diversity of older Australians.
"This includes sourcing people with language and cultural competency in our domestic workforce and if there remains a real gap in language skills, sourcing appropriately skilled people from overseas.
"However we caution against taking the easy option of using a visa solution to address what is an Australian workforce issue.
"FECCA strongly urges the Federal Government to focus on investing in training the local workforce to meet the demand from the aged care sector."
FECCA is the peak, national body representing Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. FECCA's role is to advocate and promote issues on behalf of its constituency to government, business and the broader community.
