Australia’s labour shortage

Opinion · Workforce · Response Group Insights

How to Solve Australia’s Labour Shortage

Peter Sharp argues that visas are band-aids on a systemic problem, and that Australia needs a full systems review of its immigration policy.

The Conversation

I recently attended The Australian Business Review Global Food Forum in Melbourne, where labour shortage was top of the agenda. At lunch, at a table chaired by Anthony Di Pietro, CEO of La Manna Premier Group, we discussed what could be done about crippling shortages across the country.

One idea was for a collective of farmers, communities and businesses, from the supply chain through to supermarkets and consumers, to run a full-page advertisement in The Australian showing how many people each needs to operate. It would set that against the available workforce, including unemployed people and those on pensions and training schemes, and highlight the food waste that labour shortages cause.

Every Industry Is Affected

Our discussion focused on agriculture, but it could just as easily have been construction, manufacturing, aged care or teaching. Every business in every industry is facing staff shortages, and the problem is not going away.

Australia’s unemployment rate is the lowest in 39 years at 3.9%, and I heard that Queensland alone will need 280,000 more workers between now and 2026.

Visas Are Band-Aids

Our current immigration settings are stop-gap and reactive, focused on filling frontline gaps through 482 visas, the Pacific Islander scheme and various agricultural schemes. They do not address our need for skilled agronomists, project managers and animal health and wellbeing professionals.

We need to keep these systems for now, but they treat the symptoms, not the root cause. Long term we need a sustainable, welcoming and efficient immigration system that encourages people to move to Australia.

A Bureaucratic Nightmare

On A Current Affair (7 June 2022), a Scottish couple who had been here for 12 months were told that, because of issues with their sponsorship arrangements, they had to go home and then apply for residence. Their teenage daughter wants to study aged care.

My own son-in-law’s residency application, after he married my daughter, took at least six ring binders of documentation, and he is a Scottish physician. These are two examples among many.

Australia Needs More Workers

6.6working-age people for every person over 65 in 1981-82
4.0working-age people for every person over 65 in 2019-20
2.7projected for every person over 65 by 2060-61

Source: Australian Treasury

A Full Systems Review

Our immigration system is an outdated and complex model that has grown through layers of approvals and inefficiencies. We need to advocate for an immediate, full systems review, and create a streamlined, secure and welcoming system that encourages people to come to Australia. It will take bright people, courage and bipartisan support, and I will be happy to be part of it.

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Peter Sharp
Peter Sharp

Following a successful career in executive leadership in banking, Peter co-founded Response Group in the mid 1990s. He has applied his expertise in business strategy, systems and culture across mining, health, construction, finance and manufacturing.

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