The Roy Hill iron ore project will be able to bring up to 1715 overseas workers into Australia during its three-year construction phase under a new immigration program announced today.
The move will occur under Australia’s first enterprise migration agreement, which is designed to help big projects recruit workers through the existing 457 visa program if the company is unable to find Australians to fill occupations.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced the EMA at the National Press Club today and said the government would establish a Jobs Board so positions from the project were filled first with Australians.
Mr Bowen said the recruitment of foreigners would occur only after genuine efforts to employ locals.
He also said another immigration program would be the introduction of a significant investor visa, along with several reforms to the Business Skills program to commence from July 1, 2012.
"The new significant investor visa will be available for people who invest at least $5 million in Australia in either state and territory bonds, Australian Security Investment Commission regulated managed funds or direct investment in Australian companies," Mr Bowen said.
This program would have a comparatively small number of people with their investments offering a disproportionate boost to the Australian economy.
Mr Bowen claimed the enterprise migration agreement would actually create jobs in Australia.
“EMAs will create jobs and training opportunities for Australians, because without them there's a real risk that some large projects simply won't proceed,” Mr Bowen said.
"The EMA set out protections to ensure that visa-holders engaged on the project receive the same wages and conditions as their Australian counterparts and that those workers are protected under Labor's Workplace Act,"
Mr Bowen said the $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project was expected to produce 55 million tonnes of iron ore each year for 20 years from late 2014.
The Roy Hill project is situated 277km south of Port Hedland and is a joint venture between Gina Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting and South Korean firms STX Corporation and POSCO, and Japan's Marubeni Corporation.
Skills Australia estimates mining operations will need an additional 89,000 workers in the five years to 2016 to meet expected demand.
The number of short-term resources construction jobs is expected to peak at 49,000 alone in 2014.
