<!--The Official Report of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia are covered by parliamentary privilege. Republication by others is not afforded the same protection and may result in exposure to legal liability if the material is defamatory. You may copy and make use of excerpts of proceedings where (1) you attribute the Parliament as the source, (2) you assume the risk of liability if the manner of your use is defamatory, (3) you do not use the material for the purpose of advertising, satire or ridicule, or to misrepresent members of Parliament, and (4) your use of the extracts is fair, accurate and not misleading. Copyright in the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates is held by the Attorney-General of South Australia.-->
<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="4.0" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
  <name>Legislative Council</name>
  <date date="2025-03-19T14:15:00+10:30" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>55</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>1</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>Legislative Council</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="8219" />
  <endPage num="8267" />
  <dateModified time="2025-03-20T15:59:43+10:30" />
  <proceeding continued="true" uid="5a066c4950e74db2afdc4832a938ecca">
    <name>Question Time</name>
    <subject uid="b929a1feaf234bd398703b84e59fb23f">
      <name>Immigration Policy</name>
      <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000189">
        <heading>Immigration Policy</heading>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="6929" referenceid="53ca1cd2e19847a59766892bec169fa3" uid="16be8acf7ba74b00ab05c3f2f690ce68" kind="question">
        <name>The Hon. S.L. GAME</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-03-19T03:45:00+10:30">
            <name>Immigration Policy</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <startTime time="2025-03-19T15:02:32+10:30" />
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000190">
          <timeStamp time="2025-03-19T15:02:32+10:30" />
          <by role="member" id="6929" referenceid="53ca1cd2e19847a59766892bec169fa3" uid="16be8acf7ba74b00ab05c3f2f690ce68">The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:02):</by>  I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Attorney-General, representing the workforce and population strategy minister, Susan Close, regarding the state government's sponsored visa programs which aim to attract skilled migrants to fill workforce shortages.</text>
      </talker>
      <talker kind="speech" role="office">
        <name>The President</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000191">
          <by role="office">The PRESIDENT:</by>  Leave is granted, but remember that it's the Hon. Susan Close, when you are referring to another member.</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="6929" referenceid="53ca1cd2e19847a59766892bec169fa3" uid="cbe345e20cd84949b5df501eedcaee68" kind="question" continued="true">
        <name>The Hon. S.L. GAME</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000192">
          <by role="member" id="6929" referenceid="53ca1cd2e19847a59766892bec169fa3" uid="cbe345e20cd84949b5df501eedcaee68">The Hon. S.L. GAME:</by>  Thank you, Mr President. Modelling shows a current South Australian workforce shortage of nearly 23,000 across various sectors, while research—including by the South Australian Business Chamber in 2024—shows labour shortages are a significant issue for local businesses. These labour shortages are expected to become more acute in the coming years due to our ageing population, workforce demographics and net interstate migration loss from South Australia. My questions to the Attorney-General, representing the workforce and population strategy minister, are:</text>
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000193">1.&amp;#x9;What tracking or data does the government have that shows the outcome and benefits of this state-sponsored migration program?</text>
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000194">2.&amp;#x9;In addition to failing to train South Australians, why isn't the government keeping track of the people South Australian taxpayers are sponsoring and making sure they are actually doing the jobs they are trained for?</text>
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000195">3.&amp;#x9;How can the government be sure that we have the right people being accepted into South Australia to meet the state's unique workforce needs, or is it just guesswork?</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="4c39119697e34604ac7df46125df8138" kind="answer">
        <name>The Hon. K.J. MAHER</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Aboriginal Affairs</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Attorney-General</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Special Minister of State</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <startTime time="2025-03-19T15:03:58+10:30" />
        <text id="20250319ae954357dccb4b1590000196">
          <timeStamp time="2025-03-19T15:03:58+10:30" />
          <by role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="4c39119697e34604ac7df46125df8138">The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:03):</by>  I will be happy to pass those questions on to the Deputy Premier in the other place and bring back a reply for the honourable member.</text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>