The Government has announced details of the sector agreements for:
the care workforce
construction and infrastructure
meat processing
seafood, and
seasonal snow and adventure tourism.
These changes will come into effect from October 2022.
The sector agreements were signalled in the Government’s Immigration Rebalance announcement. They will allow limited exceptions to the median wage requirements for hiring migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa in specific occupations.
The settings include pay rates, timeframes and relevant roles. They were developed in consultation with key sector bodies, unions and government agencies. They have been tailored to the specific workforce needs and conditions.
Each agreement includes expectations for improvement, including the implementation of Workforce Transition Plans and Industry Transformation Plans for sectors that have these. Performance against these will be monitored and feed into reviews and decisions about future access to migrants below the median wage.
The Minister of Immigration will write to sector bodies and unions specifying these expectations. Lower thresholds already in place for a number of care and construction roles will continue until the sector agreements come into force from 31 October 2022.