Aged care sector calls for new essential skills visa amid migration cuts

Aged care providers and an economic think tank are calling for a dedicated essential skills visa to protect critical workforces from proposed cuts to migration, warning overseas workers are central to caring for Australia's aging population.

It comes as major parties put forward competing plans to cut net overseas migration over coming years.

Competing migration plans

The Coalition has unveiled a plan to cut the temporary visa program intake by about 650,000 over four years through deep cuts to graduate, refugee and bridging visas.

Under a future Coalition government, migration would be cut to 100,000 for the first two years before rising again to 160,000.

Labor is aiming for 225,000 a year from 2027-28, down from recent levels of around 300,000.

One Nation is pledging three years of net-negative migration, meaning more people would leave than arrive.

Aged care sector's reliance on overseas workers

The peak body for aged care, Ageing Australia, said 51 per cent of the sector's workforce was born overseas, and demand for staff would keep growing as the population ages.

"We need about 110,000 additional care workers by the end of this decade alone just to keep up with the demand we're currently dealing with and the demand that's coming down the road at us,"

CEO Tom Symondson said.

At one regional aged care centre in New South Wales central west, more than 80 per cent of its staff were born overseas.

"The majority of our workers are from Nepal — 104 out of 179 staff — so that's quite a high percentage,"

Service Manager at Uniting Wontama in Orange, Rosie Dunnett, said.

"We also have staff from India, the Philippines … and from a whole range of other countries as well."

Without those migrant workers, Dunnett said they couldn't run this service.

Impact on workers

Rose Buen, an aged care worker from the Philippines, said she was scared about her future due to the proposed visa changes.

"I'm actually scared right now. These visa policies hit us directly, especially with our life and future career plans,"

she said.

Sector needs reliable workforce pipeline: CEDA

The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) and Ageing Australia are calling for a dedicated visa pathway for care workers.

CEDA chief executive Melinda Cilento warned that sharp reductions in temporary migration could have unintended consequences for sectors already struggling to recruit staff.

"There is a risk that as you start shifting [migration] numbers quite sharply, people aren't really joining the dots on the extent to which we're relying on migrant workers in the care sector,"

Ms Cilento said.

Proposed essential skills visa

The concept of an essential worker visa was flagged as part of a recent Migration Strategy, which proposed exploring a dedicated migration pathway for lower-paid workers in sectors experiencing chronic shortages, including the care economy.

CEDA argues the labour agreement is not meeting demand, saying the number of workers sponsored through the pathway remains small relative to the sector's workforce needs.

Under CEDA's proposal, aged and disability carers, personal care assistants and nursing support workers would have access to a visa specifically for occupations facing long-term shortages.

"The care sector is really a centrepiece of the Australian economy,"

Professor of Work and Labour Market Policy at the University of Sydney, Dr Chris Wright, said.

"I think the care workforce is really going to fall through the cracks of these policies."

Dr Wright said the current arrangements were "patchwork and unreliable" for the care sector and an essential skills visa, if properly designed, would provide more certainty.