Increasing the migration cap to help ease Australia’s skills shortages cannot come at the expense of training up the workforce, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers says.
The Business Council of Australia is urging the government to boost the permanent migration cap to 220,000 temporarily to make up for the shortfall in migration during the pandemic.
Chalmers says the government will look at sensible migration policy and reform at the upcoming skills and jobs summit but Australians shouldn’t be stripped of opportunities in the labour market.
“We can’t fall in the trap of saying migration is a substitute for training, we need to move on both fronts in sensible ways,” the treasurer told Sky News’ AM Agenda program on Sunday….