Key Points
- Jobs and Skills Australia has released a list of priority migrant skills for fast-tracked visas.
- The list includes yoga and martial arts instructors, jewellery designers and dog trainers.
- Educators, chief executives, medical professionals, and youth workers are also being prioritised.
Yoga and martial arts instructors, jewellery designers and dog trainers are among the jobs being prioritised for skilled migrants in Australia.
The list also includes artistic directors, divers and retail buyers, while trades including plumbers and bricklayers remain under consideration.
The draft Jobs and Skills Australia Confident On List details professions eligible for fast-tracked visas.
It comes after the government released its Migration Strategy in December, which provided a roadmap for reforming Australia’s migration system.
What are the ‘in-demand’ jobs for migrants in Australia?
The names senior positions such as chief executives or managing directors, sales and marketing managers, advertising managers, research and development managers, and chief information officers as priority jobs in Australia.
Migrants in medical fields such as registered nurses, midwives, nurse practitioners and nurse researchers are also being prioritised.
Other medical professionals such as sonographers, diagnostic radiographers, anaesthetists, general practitioners, and several types of surgeons and specialists, are also included on the list.
Family support workers, social workers, and youth workers are also being prioritised, along with veterinarians, ambulance officers, psychologists, and drug and alcohol counsellors.
Australia is also in need of educators, including university lecturers, early childhood educators, primary and secondary school teachers, school principals, and special education teachers, according to the list.
There are also occupations in the finance and accounting sector listed, including actuaries and taxation accountants.
Geotechnical, civil structural, transport, electrical, industrial, mining, and aeronautical engineers are also listed.
Building and trade industry ‘flummoxed’ by list
While building and trade professionals, including construction project managers, building inspectors, electricians, carpenters and joiners are included on the Confident On List, others are not being prioritised in Australia’s skills migration stream.
Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said she was “flummoxed” by the proposal, which comes as Australia continues to struggle with a housing shortage.
“We cannot build homes with wellness instructors,” she told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“We need tradies and they must be on the definite list for skilled migration.”
Australia was competing with other countries including the UK and Canada to attract skilled migrants, Wawn said, and was disadvantaged without a fast-tracked system.
– Additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.