Government abolishes 457 visas for foreign workers

The Federal Government has announced it is abolishing the 457 visa used by foreign workers in a bid to get more Australians into the workforce.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement this afternoon on his Facebook page, saying “Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs”.

“Australia is the most successful multicultural nation in the world. We are an immigration nation. But the fact remains that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs,” he said.

“So we’re abolishing the 457 visas; the visa that bring temporary foreign workers into our country. We’ll no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians.”

He said a new temporary visa would replace the 457 visa and have tougher requirements for applicants.

“The new visa will better target genuine skills shortage, particularly in regional Australia. It will include new requirement including previous work experience, better English language proficiency and labour market testing.”

He said the Government was also establishing a new training fund.

“To help train Australians to fill skills gaps we’ll also establish a new training fund. I’ll have more to say about all this in coming days and weeks, but our reforms will have a simple focus: Australian jobs and Australian values.”

What are your thoughts on this? Is it a good idea? Or do we need foreign workers to help our country?