Income Threshold Changes Damning for DAMA
An exorbitant increase to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) is making it near impossible to hire migrant hospitality workers in Townsville.
The Albanese Labor Government recently increased the minimum wage that a migrant worker must be paid to qualify for a temporary work visa from $53,900 to $70,000.
Herbert MP Phillip Thompson was recently contacted by Pilgrim Sailing owner Clare Ley. Her Magnetic Island sailing charter company is now having to pay her migrant on-board hospitality workers $70,000 minimum wage because of the 30% increase to the threshold; which is more than the award wage of the local workers.
Mr Thompson said the pay disparity was completely unreasonable.
“To have a situation where the crew who are on visas are being paid 30% more than local staff is ridiculous,” Mr. Thompson said.
“This goes against the whole point of the Townsville North Queensland Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) we negotiated, which was all about getting more migrant workers to fill our skills gaps.”
Mr Thompson has been against these changes since they were initially proposed and said the Albanese Labor Government was warned several times around the negative impacts of the change, particularly in regional settings.
“Despite advice provided by leading industry experts, the Albanese Labor Government rolled out the changes which are clearly already having disastrous outcomes,” Mr Thompson said.
“The increase is limiting the viability of hiring skilled migrant workers which is set to devastate our tourism industry.”
Ms Ley has said the changes had caused the Magnetic Island sailing charter company to terminate their immigration process and put the business’ ability to maintain service levels at risk.
“In our case, we are really disappointed and frustrated about the wasted time, effort and money we have invested in this process to date,” Ms Ley said.
ENDS