Immigration Policy

The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Attorney-General, representing the Minister for Workforce and Population Strategy, regarding the state's skilled migration program.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.L. GAME: Data shows that South Australia has the highest rate of underutilised skilled migrants in the nation. The government recently announced a new $1.5 million program to unlock the full potential of these skilled migrants who come to our state. The program was informed by a government-commissioned report by Deloitte titled 'Maximising the Value of the South Australian Migrant Community'. Electricians are among those skilled migrants coming to South Australia through our state-sponsored, taxpayer-funded migration program.

South Australia-based migration experts have informed my office that bridging courses, which upskill these migrant electricians to meet South Australian standards, are currently not available, meaning they cannot work in their chosen field. In this chamber, on 19 March this year, I asked the government what tracking or data it has that shows the outcomes and benefits of this state-sponsored migration program, including ensuring that skilled migrants are actually doing the jobs they are trained for.

Under current South Australian and federal laws, there is nothing requiring skilled migrants to work in their trained profession when they come to our state under the state nomination program, or to remain living or working in South Australia. My questions to the Attorney-General, representing the Minister for Workforce and Population Strategy, are:

1. Why is the government sponsoring migrants to come here as electricians if they can't actually work here as electricians due to the state's failure to provide courses to upskill them to meet South Australian requirements?

2. How many electricians has the government sponsored each year for the past five years through the state-sponsored skilled migration program, and when was the last time the state actually provided courses to upskill migrant electricians to meet South Australian requirements?

3. Does the government acknowledge that it has helped create the problem of underutilisation of skilled migrants by encouraging them to work in unskilled jobs to qualify for state sponsorship, and by failing to provide adequate training for others to meet local standards and subsequently work in their chosen field?

4. Given that government policy helped create the problem Deloitte was commissioned to explore, can the government tell taxpayers how much they paid for Deloitte's report?

5. If the government is serious about tackling the state's skills shortages and housing crisis, and in view of its ambition to build more homes, does it agree that having skilled tradespeople working in the roles they are trained for would deliver better value for taxpayer money and be a more desirable outcome?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for her question about the importance of migration, and I will be happy to pass that on to the minister in another place and bring back a reply.