End of Nursing in Oz? Federal Government: Review 457 visa for nurses in Australia

Mon, 2014-05-26 14:06 by Neutrino

Illustration photo is used by a real agency.

Illustrations and commentary from candobetter.net. Although this article comes from a petition, (which already has 27,222 supporters) the article explaining it, by Esther Inglis of Brisbane, Australia is fantastic. I would only add to it that it is not just graduates who are suffering. This rort and scandal needs to be blown out of the water in Australia. The absolute shamelessness of careerists currently running hospitals all over the country, who dump on their colleagues and on students merits that you cut dead most people in hospital management on suspicion that they are part of this outrageous behaviour towards ordinary RNs and trainee nurses. Hospitals and managers are getting bonuses for bringing in foreign nurses and getting them to sign up with universities to do Masters and Phd's in nursing at great expense to the immigrants and enormous cost to wider Australian society. And while this is going on many excellent nurses with years of experience are now unable to find work. They cannot afford to compete with cashed up professional immigrants for post graduate university courses that have become quasi-mandatory to get some short term job in nursing. And, as imported nurses sit at their desks and do full time higher degree courses just in order to keep their positions and fulfill their contracts, the wards are filled with new rapidly trained kinds of 'care-workers', and a few overworked Division 2s, doing jobs that real RNs once did. Can this be good for anyone? Tony Abbott complains about the cost of health care, but he has nothing to say about this - naturally. I really don't think it is necessary to add that I have nothing against foreign nurses, however I will. What I am against is destroying the reasonable expectations of employment of nurses born here. It is so cruel, unnecessary and shameful. The unions are doing nothing, nor are the schools of nursing; they are just shamefully taking the money for membership and courses, like the cowards they are. So try signing this petition and send it around everywhere.

Article by Esther Inglis, first appeared on Change.org.

You can sign the petition here:

https://www.change.org/petitions/federal-government-review-457-visa-for-nurses-in-australia?recruiter=100529205&utm_campaign=mailto_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

Getting a job is competitive, getting a job as a graduate even more so. Faced with proposed changes to the federal budget, it is a bleak outlook for the thousands of nursing graduates each year, who are desperate to be employed but are often losing out on job opportunities to experienced nurses recruited by hospitals/facilities on 457 visas.

There was a shortage in nurses, but now even skilled nurses are finding it difficult to find work. Though this issue has many dimensions, graduate nurses are most at risk of losing out to foreign experienced nurses. Graduate nurses are our future, initiatives need to be in place to ensure they are placed in employment upon completion of their degrees, otherwise the future of Australian nursing will again be faced with shortages of nurses.

Click on the picture to see how Australia's 'nursing shortage' is being misrepresented to potential migrant nurses.

The federal budget will make unemployed life very difficult, especially considering that many nurse graduates are under 30 years of age and will not qualify for unemployment benefits for 6 months.

The proportion of international nurses on 457 visas hired each year is comparable to the proportion of nurse graduates who find themselves unable to find work. How are we meant to transition from graduate into experienced nurses, if the opportunities to work, experience and refine our skills is not available to us.

The federal and state governments need to work out where our health and employment system is falling short and failing graduate nurses, who previously had excellent job prospects upon graduation. Initiatives to hire graduates need to be implemented immediately, so we can get out foot in the door and have options for our futures.

We have studied and trained extremely hard to be there in your hours of greatest need… we know that you will help us now in ours. Please support our petition to have this issue reviewed and action taken by the government.

Nationally, a breakdown of unemployed graduates reveal the state of the industry:

SA: The ANMF estimates that in South Australia alone, 280 nurse and midwife graduates were unable to secure jobs after university last year.

QLD: Only 600 of 2500 nursing graduates were able to secure jobs this year.

TAS: 60 per cent of nursing graduates were unable to find work last year.

VIC: 800 nurse and midwife graduates were unable to secure employment last year.

NSW: The ANMF says the NSW public hospital sector is the largest employer of nurses on 457 visas.

(source Australian Federation of Nursing and Midwifery)

To:
Scott Morrison, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
Senator Eric Abetz, Federal Minister for Employment
Peter Dutton, Federal Minister for Health
Luke Hartsuyker, Assistant Minister for Employment
Kate Ellis, Shadow Minister for Education
Catherine King, Shadow Minister for Health
Lawrence Springborg, State Minister for Health - Queensland
John-Paul Langbroek, State Minister for Education, Training & Employment - Queensland
Curtis Pitt, Shadow State Minister for Employment - Queensland
Jo-Ann Miller, Shadow State Minister for Health - Queensland
Richard Marles, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
Review 457 visas for international nurses. In my home state of Queensland, only one quarter of graduate nurses last year have gained positions, this is a scary prospect for nursing students.

With the changes to the federal budget, we cannot afford to be out of work, especially as graduates with no experience. The age of entitlement is over, though many of us cannot even get a foot in the door to put food on our tables.

Whilst we value and respect the work of international nurses working in Australia on 457 visas, we need to make sure that we are not being passed over and have every opportunity to enter the workforce and build our skill base with valuable hospital experience.

The rate of graduate nurses unemployed is similar to the intake of international nurses, so we know the work is there, we just need our government to tighten the regulations on these visas and give us a fighting chance to start off our careers!
Sincerely,
[Your name]

Topic:

Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2014-05-26 21:02

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The image of an Asian nurse should be removed immediately

Whilst the story is perfectly acceptable the image is not. Many people have dedicated an enormous amount of hard work to dealing with the population growth management issue in a humane and politically correct way - as a sustainability issue. It only takes one hint, regardless of how unintentional that might be, of racist or anti-immigration overtones to degenerate the whole population debate into the kind of xenophobic, racist argument that it must not be. Please remove this politically incorrect image, and this comment. Thanks

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 2014-05-27 10:19

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Federal Government - The actual 457 Policy and the "inquiry"

Unless you understand the basics of our National policy then it is not possible to understand exactly what is going on. The key to understanding is this: The Public Interest is now subjugated to business and private Interests. The Immigration Department (DIBP) is divesting its responsibility to private sponsors (ie private businesses) with direct financial interests in the outcomes. (Think fox and hen house). In effect a major Public policy area has been handed over to private interests – an unprecedented transfer of power and private wealth making potential. This Public policy divestment has serious negative inter-generational consequences . Australia's population is projected to increase by about 50% over the next 40 years, (most of this growth is now based on 457 visa schemes). This implies: 1. A transfer of about 50% of our total National wealth to Foreign Nationals. 2. Great potential for loss of sovereignty and independence. For these reasons alone, we should be very cautious about the way we proceed. Serious independent objective inquiry is essential; not slogans and lobbyist spin; it is vital. If left the problems will become intractable; solutions more difficult.

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2014-05-27 14:09

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Private interests and 457 policies and inquiry

Hi, Candobetter.net writers are in general well aware of the forces you describe. Myself I have engaged in independent study to elicit these published as thesis in 2002, called The Growth lobby in Australia and its absence in France. Subsequent work included a 100 page submission to the Productivity Commission on First home ownership, which outlined different housing finance systems in different countries and their history, and described the evolution of these private interests, particularly as the were able to magnify the globalisation of our assets inc real estate with the rise of the internet, from the late 1990s. I have continued to develop this objective inquiry in my current two books: Demography Territory Law: The Rules of animal and human populations and Demography Territory Law 2: Land-Tenure and the Origins of Capitalism in Britain, (due out in next week or so) both published by Countershock Press. Could you be more specific regarding 'slogans and lobbyist spin'? Are you referring to a particular article here? If it's about the face on the ad for overseas migrants, please be more specific. Do not be afraid to logically destroy anything we have attempted here. I think we are strong enough to deal with it and admit if we are wrong. We cannot always be right. However we have articles documenting population policies and trajectories now from 2006, written on many different levels. Candobetter.net is a rare source of continuity in reporting these matters. On the question of popularising our message, don't forget that the forces that have deconstructed society to better serve their narrow financial interests employ the mass media to popularise their spin. On candobetter.net we don't use 'spin' but we do use pictures and slogans and tags to attract people to critical analysis of what is happening. And we also promote local concerns that won't otherwise get any support. Not all our writers are sophisticated, but we tend to share particular views and values, which coincide with wanting a democratic voice. I would also say that the deconstruction of Australian society is now to a point where we have already effectively lost sovereignty and independence to oligarchs. Perhaps we can get it back if we organise. Organising a nearly deconstructed society is the biggest problem of all. The mass media is the major organising force but it uses this position to disorganise by inventing majority viewpoints. This nursing petition is a light in the darkness because public servants taking steps to protect themselves indicates that we have reached a critical position. Usually nurses don't venture into wider politics and worry about getting into trouble if they complain about health policies, and rely upon their ineffectual union to do that - which it doesn't, except narrowly. It seems now that a lot of nurses are prepared to stand together at least on this petition. It is now up to others to help those nurses to engage more effectively in alternative Australian politics - avoiding the traps of tweedledum and tweedledee membership, socialist alliance detours, and ANF management facilitation.

DennisK (not verified)

Wed, 2014-05-28 09:03

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Avoiding these traps is critical

- avoiding the traps of tweedledum and tweedledee membership, socialist alliance detours, and ANF management facilitation. Thats mostly why political activity goes nowhere. The standard way of expressing disinterest in a party, is to vote for the other half of the duopoly. LibLab have an arrangement where they compete and alternate, but ensure they remain the only political options. Despite the heated arguments between the two, they are in an alliance to ensure Australia politics remains within their ideological sphere (of which there is a LOT more overlap that most Labor/Liberal supporters would want to admit). They both unite to maintain hegemony when their duopoly is threatened. The Socialists are also aproblem. They are young people who have free time (due to being at Uni/unemployed/low level public sector positions) who are able to be 'first on the scene' and hijack issues. Because of the time they can commit, they can become the 'face' of any issue they choose for their agenda. Palestine is a classic example. Thier ability to organise rallies for Palestine mean that it is they, not the Palestinians who then control public demonstrations and activists, and can therefore use the cause to further their own. "Occupy" is another example. The people most hit by financial greed and corporate rule are too busy working as debt slaves.

Anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 2016-03-04 18:32

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AHPRA has not been

AHPRA has not been encouraging nurses to do the workforce planning surveys so the govt has no accurate picture. Nurses are losing their properties (I know of more than one nurse this has happened to) but what would the union care. The union organisers are more interested in looking after themselves rather than looking after the people that pay their wages. The union sucks people into paying fees on false pretences by suggesting they offer this service and that service but when it comes to the crunch they let people down. The govt should be subsidizing Australian workers not foreign workers also when it comes to employment. The reality of the matter is that many employers are claiming that they cannot get Australian workers but they are being dishonest and the govt should be clamping down on this because there are going to be huge social problems in the long run. The govt is so short sighted.

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2014-05-26 21:49

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We don't have skills shortage, just a shortage of leadership

Instead of the skills shortages our politicians say to justify open-doors to free immigration to our country, we are in skills overload! If graduate nurses and the experienced can't get jobs because of immigrants, then they are being bizarrely discriminated against in their own country. The number of 457 workers coming into our workforce is higher than the rate of jobs growth. The only reason that our government would allow this is to push down wages and living conditions. Up to 3,000 graduate nurses haven’t managed to get jobs in hospitals and unions are blaming a rise in the number of foreign nurses being brought into the country on 457 working visas. There have been reports that China has demanded to be allowed to import workers into Australia for projects funded by Chinese investors as part of the FTA being negotiated between Canberra and Beijing. FTA should be about trading goods and services, not about the one way direction of allowing foreigners have access to jobs created by country. Where are the reciprocal jobs created in China that Australians can apply for? Migration Council Australia chief executive Carla Wilshire said Chinese workers could already access 457 visas for Australian projects, allowing them to work here if a job could not be filled locally. There was a danger in changing this system, she said. Read more: Free trade agreement push to import Chinese workers criticised at http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/free-trade-agreeme... How are we in "short supply" of skills if nurses, and other trades and professions, can't find employment? The "skills shortage" on the contrary is great scam, and if there are any genuine skills shortages, it reflect on our privatisation program and the inadequacy of our technical and academic training schemes.

nutrino (not verified)

Mon, 2014-05-26 22:26

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Picture of Indian nurses in Australia

This is a real agency ad pitched at Indian nurses. This is a typical situation which needs to be confronted, IMHO. Ads were googled ads for nurses wanting to work in Australia and that was the first one that came up, apart from another which showed about 12 nurses in saris graduating from an Australian course. The point is that people touting for nurses go overseas to towns in densely populated countries where there are English speakers and they sign up a quantity at a time. Is one supposed to pretend that nurses come from everywhere except India? How does one choose a generic kind of nurse-photo that doesn't look as if it comes from anywhere in particular? That's not what the immigration agents and hospital scouts are doing; they are targeting specific populations. Nurses in Australia, of Australian, Indian, or any other foreign origin will recognise this situation. I have been advised by the editor to put a caption under the photo and explain that it comes from a real ad. By the way, do you consider such an advertisement by the original agency that uses it to be racist? More comments on this are welcome.

Eric (not verified)

Mon, 2014-05-26 23:57

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Nursing recruitment ad

I clicked on the picture in question and read the small print on this ad which says "Welcome to Nursing Careers Australia. A global recruitment firm that specialises in helping overseas nurses work and live in Australia. We will show you how to experience financial freedom , unlimited career opportunities and an exciting life in one of the most beautiful places on Earth" The face on the ad IS the face of this recruitment process. The website goes on to say that Australia has an aging population and nurses are badly needed etc. That's OK if Australian nurses are being employed in Australia but it certainly is not if they are missing out on jobs they trained and qualified for.

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 2014-05-27 11:32

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Lies and whoppers coming from our government

Living in Australia (according to the recruitment website) “Australia is officially named the world’s number one nation brand”, according to the Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI) Link: http://www.nationbrandindex.com/nbi_q2-australia-press-release.phtml Australia has topped the charts in tourism, investment and immigration, as well as the most popular nationality. Among the key findings of the Anholt Nation Brands Index are: Other countries surveyed found Australians the: •Friendliest •Most honest and •Hospitable nationality •Employers prefer to hire Australians •Australia is the world’s favourite place to invest and live • Kevin Rud’s (!)government is seen as trustworthy Yes, thanks to Kevin Rudd's "big Australia" policy, doors are open wide to foreigners to work here, and despite the "skills shortages" being a blatant lie, the people in Australia are so "friendly", "hospitable" and politically-correct that anyone who's experienced and trained in nursing, and many other professions, can apply to enjoy our lifestyle! This is despite an ABS survey showing that unemployment of migrants is higher than that of Australian-born. The Australian Bureau of Statistics analysed the employment success of people who were born in a country where English is not the main language. Of those who can speak English proficiently, 47 per cent are in full-time jobs. Of those who can’t, the proportion drops to just 19 per cent. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/managing/blogs/work-in-progress/... Unemployment among skilled migrants and their families is 30% higher than for the population as a whole, but those who do have a job are more likely to be in a professional role. At the last census, 7.3 per cent of skilled migrants were unemployed compared with 5.2 per cent of the population as a whole. Just 32 per cent of secondary applicants, family renunions, of working age were employed full-time compared with 68 per cent of so-called ”primary applicants”. In the past, there was little questioning of our immigration rates, which traditionally in the 1980s and 1990s were lower than now. There were jobs, cheap housing, and Australia was relatively wealthy and blessed with good education and universities were free! Now, it's robbing jobs from Australians, and disadvantaging the existing population. As in Europe, the anti-immigration political parties can only gain swelling support once the public become willing to speak out for their sovereign rights!

Greg W (not verified)

Sun, 2014-06-01 03:27

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Hypocrite Joe Hockey protesting Student Loans in 1987

Recommend watching the video footage linked to below. Apologies if you have already seen it.

...

This comment has been adapted and turned into the article 1987: Student activist Joe Hockey protests the imposition of student fees that, as Federal Treasurer in 2014, he is INCREASING. 1/6/2014 - Ed

End of Nursing in Oz? Federal Government: Review 457 visa for nurses in Australia

You can sign the petition here:

Topic:

Comments

The image of an Asian nurse should be removed immediately

Federal Government - The actual 457 Policy and the "inquiry"

Private interests and 457 policies and inquiry

Avoiding these traps is critical

AHPRA has not been

We don't have skills shortage, just a shortage of leadership

Picture of Indian nurses in Australia

Nursing recruitment ad

Lies and whoppers coming from our government

Hypocrite Joe Hockey protesting Student Loans in 1987

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