The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has raised concerns about changes to the Government's new skilled visa program. While AFPA welcomes the addition of some forest sector roles to the Skills in Demand Visa list, the decision to leave critical industry occupations including Forest Science/Forester off the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), is baffling, Chief Executive Officer, Diana Hallam said today.
"Like many Australian industries, the supply chain for forestry and forest products is experiencing skills shortages across numerous jobs and occupations that are critical for us. Therefore, importing those skills from overseas is essential to keep our operations functioning properly," Diana Hallam said.
"The Federal Government's Jobs and Skills Council has released an updated CSOL which informs access for temporary skilled migration. Unfortunately, several roles that AFPA advocated for and are necessary to fill skills gaps haven't been included - Forest Science/Forester, Saw Maker and Repairer, Saw Technician and Aquaculture, crop and forestry worker.
"Of greatest concern is the removal of Forest Science/Forester from the list. With no undergraduate forest science degree currently on offer anywhere in Australia, the decision to remove this occupation from the CSOL is particularly confusing. Without foresters, there is no forestry and if Australia's tertiary institutions are not producing the next generation of forest scientists then we have no option but to source them from overseas. Any model that suggested it was appropriate to exclude skill 234113 from the CSOL is clearly broken.
"We know there are genuine shortages of these critical skills in the local workforce and many forest sector operations need these gaps filled through migrant visa holders. Saw Makers and Repairers for example are critically important to processing facilities ensuring equipment runs efficiently. Furthermore, many of these in demand jobs are located in regional areas which adds to the difficulty in filling them.
"While we were pleased that Production Manager (Forestry) and Other Spatial Scientist are on the list, and Wood Machinist has been added to the list, the exclusion of the other professions will mean adverse impacts for industry.
"AFPA will continue to work with the Albanese Government to highlight the problem these shortages create for a sector so important to the Australian economy and environment and will advocate to get more critical roles included on the visa list for skilled migrants," Diana Hallam concluded.
