Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reacts as he speaks during an official function for the Liberal Party during the Australian general election in Sydney, Australia, July 3, 2016.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reacts as he speaks during an official function for the Liberal Party during the Australian general election in Sydney, Australia, July 3, 2016. Reuters/David Gray

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull seems undisturbed by suggestions that his latest decision to scrap the 457 visa program is “Trump-esque,” or was pinched from US President Donald Trump’s copybook. Following his recent announcement, Labor said he rushed the decision for political gains.

Speaking to ABC radio, the Australian leader said commentators can make whatever comparisons they wish to. He stressed that the aim was to ensure that Australian jobs are for Australians first as it is also about putting Australian values on top.

“I recognise that there are a lot of people who will try to criticise this on political grounds," he said, adding that the move is not about politics. He also warned that employers would lose access to workers from overseas if they choose to not prioritise Australian workers.

The prime minister has pointed out that the 457 visa class had "lost its credibility" and two new temporary skilled visas would serve as replacement. Sydney Morning Herald noted that there will be a short term two-year visa stream with a list of jobs that will be cut by more than 200. There would no path to permanent residency.

Overnight, Trump declared his own reform of a visa program to encourage American employers to hire more Americans. The POTUS believes that his latest move would imply a powerful message to the world that American workers are given priority, and that it’s America first.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg believes that the new regime would create thousands of jobs for Australians over time, but provided no specific number of Australian workers that would be employed. Turnbull explained that the number of jobs involved would depend on the demands of the economy and on skill shortages and emphasised that the objective is that wherever an Australian is available to fill an Australian job vacancy, the Australian fills it.

Another objective of the Turnbull administration is to ensure that Australians are obtaining proper training to do Australian jobs. The prime minister had mentioned that chef is one of the occupations in which employers could hire foreign workers because they were claiming they couldn’t find Australians for the work, calling the situation an enduring skills gap, the Australian noted.

Atlassian co-founder Michael Cannon-Brookes welcomed the new foreign worker scheme and called it “logical.” He said the company provided 1,000 jobs in Australia, gave jobs to hundreds of graduates and supported hundreds of scholarships and thousands of computer science classes.

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