This Month
- Exclusive
- Electricity
$2.3b energy project faces cost blowouts
The problems plaguing the EnergyConnect scheme add to major delays at other projects key to Australia’s energy transition including the $12 billion Snowy 2.0.
- Jenny Wiggins and Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Exclusive
- International students
Teal MPs seek softening of foreign student cap laws
Legislation to cap the number of international students will be debated this week – even as visa numbers are in dramatic decline.
- Julie Hare
June
‘Unique position’ secures WA thousands more skilled migrants
Perth property prices have soared amid unprecedented migration. Now WA Premier Roger Cook has landed a promise of thousands more migrants to build more homes.
- Tom Rabe
Government urged to add accountants, auditors to fast-track visa list
Eleven accounting, auditing and data-related roles need to be added to a new list of occupations eligible for fast-tracked migrant visas due to ongoing labour shortages, say two major professional bodies.
- Edmund Tadros
Skilled refugees could unlock $9b in extra GDP
Maths graduate Wissam Chabo applied for 100 jobs before getting work in a local cafe. Research shows skilled migrants are badly underutilised, even during Australia’s skills shortage.
- Euan Black
Employee-starved businesses likely to bypass migrant caps: report
Businesses are likely to recruit workers from New Zealand and working holidaymakers, a major report says, avoiding moves by Labor and the Coalition to cut Australia’s permanent skilled migration intake.
- Tom McIlroy and Julie Hare
House prices would barely fall under Dutton’s migration plan: Grattan
Peter Dutton’s plan to slash migration would have long-term economic consequences, but little bearing on house prices and rentals, says the Grattan Institute.
- Julie Hare
Use partner migrants to fill skills shortages, experts say
Thousands of potential skilled workers are already in Australia, as secondary skilled migrants face lengthy wait times for visa processing.
- Tom McIlroy
May
Why this teen is bucking the trend and studying ‘the dismal science’
Kate Gibson hopes to work in public policy or health when she finishes her economics degree, but fewer of her peers are signing up – despite the high salaries.
- Julie Hare
Study shows pay gaps between tech’s big names and the rest
A new study shows a stark difference in pay at newer tech stars like Atlassian and Canva, compared to public sector and other tech company specialists.
- Paul Smith
Young, ready to go regional: the migrants business wants most
Australia should prioritise full-time workers who have settled in locations with the biggest skills shortages, big four firm KPMG says.
- Tom McIlroy
Readers back production tax credits, wary of immigration cuts
Most readers of The Australian Financial Review support the Albanese government’s production tax credits, but less than a third back his immigration cuts designed to tackle the housing crisis.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
Migrants are ‘driving Ubers’, not working skilled jobs
More than half of skilled migrants are working in occupations they are overqualified for, suggesting that Australia is failing to capitalise on foreign workers to fill skills shortages.
- John Kehoe
Dutton’s housing fix ‘will worsen supply’
One of Australia’s biggest property developers says slashing permanent migration as a way to fix acute housing shortages will only exacerbate the problem.
- Tom McIlroy, Michael Read and Nick Lenaghan
Labor pumps $630m into green jobs
Labor will spend more than $630 million to help secure workers for its signature Made in Australia agenda.
- Tom McIlroy
Government’s $91m tradie plan only ‘modest’ boost for home building
Australia’s target of 1.2 million new homes is a crisis of surging demand and a construction workforce facing its own demographic challenges.
- Updated
- Michael Bleby
April
Inquiry puts blame on regulator, RBA for ASX failure
ASIC and the Reserve Bank should conduct more thorough audits to avoid a repeat of the bungled CHESS replacement project.
- James Eyers
‘A mishmash’: backpackers not equal under visa rules
Different regulations can apply to countries even from the same continent when it comes to language requirements.
- Julie Hare
March
Bosses want upskilled workforce? Pay your way, says Suncorp
Employers haven’t thrown enough into staff skills development and paid time must be allotted to boost productivity, chairwoman Christine McLoughlin says.
- Liam Walsh
Why staff are job hunting more than ever before
The high cost of living has generated rising employee fears about job security and prompted record numbers of people to consider changing jobs, new data shows.
- Patrick Durkin
