New migration program targets NBN skills

James Riley
Monday, 17 May 2010 21:10

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Information technology skills have retained a priority status on the Rudd Government's newly-published Skilled Occupation List on which skilled migration program is based.

And with the National Broadband Network entering the mainland build phase, telecommunications engineering and network design skills have been newly-listed as occupations where demand exceeds short and medium-term supply.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the new Skills Occupancy List (SOL) was better targeted and would result in the general skilled migration program operating more effectively in filling the needs of the economy.

Specifically, Senator Evans said the new list would "close the door" to people seeking permanent residency through low-value education courses in Australia - a manipulation of the system that did not deliver in-demand skills to the economy.

The SOL, which comes into effect from July 1, contains 181 highly-valued occupations and replaces a skilled migration list that contained more than 400 occupational skills. And Government has also added tougher English-language requirements to its general skilled migration program, especially among trade occupations.

The list includes ICT business analyst; systems analyst, analyst programmer, developer programmer and software engineer. And what appears to be occupations that target NBN construction requirements includes Telecommunications Engineer, Telecommunications Network Engineer, Telecommunications Field Engineer, Telecommunications Network Planner and Telecommunications Technical Officer.

The list also provides maximum points to a variety of civil and electrical engineering occupations. Other in-demand occupations that feature prominently in the new skilled migration program include virtually every classification of health sector workers.

"This SOL represents a new direction which aims to ensure we choose migrants who have the skills to meet our nation's economic needs," Senator Evans said.