The country froze a base income of $35,600 per year for eligible immigrants for 10 years which is expected to rise to $46,300 by July 1. The Ministry of the Interior argued that the migration system currently “encourages exploitation and attracts low-paid workers” and that migrants would help solve many of the country’s problems.
Australia will end a decade of freezing the minimum wage for skilled migrant workers under the government’s view that the current system is “flawed”.
The increase would mean US$10,700 more per year for skilled migrants than what they currently earn.
“Our migration system has suffered from an impressive decade of neglect. It is broken, it is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves, and most importantly it is failing Australians ..and this cannot continue because as a country we face huge national challenges which migration can help us solve,” said Claire O’Neill, the Home Secretary.
Australia has long had the highest immigration rate for an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country, but recent official data suggests that migrants who once represented a stable labor force are increasingly moving to temporary conditions. settled in and did not formalize their position in the country or leave it.
According to O’Neill, this change will help migrants have a clear path to permanent residency “by the end of this year” because the conditions under which they work will be different and their quality of life could improve significantly.
The government had a portal to know more about this pay change.
At the end of 2022, in November, Australia’s Home Office review of the migration schedule found that 1.8 million temporary migrants are living in the country within a population of around 26 million.
This April 27, the minister reiterated his concern about the matter and said that migrants should get citizenship and not live in a temporary scenario with little regulation.
“It is not in Australia’s national interest to keep a significant proportion of people who enter temporarily without a pathway to citizenship because it undermines our democratic resilience and social cohesion,” the official said.
