Multi-billionaire mining magnates should unlock the untapped potential in Australia's labour market before offering jobs to foreigners, a key union says, but the mining industry has dismissed these claims as misleading "fear mongering".
A government deal to allow mining magnate Gina Rinehart to employ up to 1700 foreign workers at her Roy Hill iron-ore project in the Pilbara has angered trade unions and some Labor MPS.
CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan said he was encouraged by Prime Minister Julia Gillard's pledge that mining companies must look for suitable local labour first before considering hiring foreigners.
"We welcome the prime minister's reiteration that there will be a preference for Australian workers and Australian workers will get the first crack at jobs ... in the resources sector," he told reporters in Melbourne today.
He said there was a wealth of unrealised potential in the local labour market.
"Let's attack the issue of endemic unemployment in a lot of Australian cities and regional areas, let's have a look at indigenous Australia, let's have a look at women participating in these projects," he said.
"There are huge sources of untapped potential in the Australian labour market before we start going off overseas."
But the Australian Mines and Metals Association's chief, Steve Knott, told the Fair Work Summit in Sydney today that rhetoric from the unions about the use of foreign labour by resource companies was untrue and simplistic, and failed to incorporate all the facts.
"It has become commonplace for unions to roll out the same old campaigns of negativity and self-interested public fear mongering, complete with recurring misinformation," Mr Knott said.
Mr Knott said importing foreign labour is often more expensive and seeking workers from overseas is a last resort.
"The resource industry only relies on the use of skilled migration to fill the critical temporary skills gaps that at this stage are unable to be solved by local supply," Mr Knott said in his speech.
"The use of skilled labour from overseas is not seen by the industry as a way of sourcing inexpensive labour or providing an alternative to existing skilled Australian labour."
Under the Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) about 1700 foreign workers are expected to be granted visas to work on the Roy Hill project.
