The adventure starts here London, 30th & 31st Jan 2010

Down Under Live !

The UK’s biggest event for Australia and New Zealand  returns to London in 2010 at the Business Design Centre in Islington, as well as the best advice and help for anyone planning the move of a lifetime down under.

Come and listen to our dedicated migration seminar programme, where visitors to the show can hear from recognised migration experts on every aspect of making the move of a lifetime. Topics covered include the visa process, how to avoid paying too much to have your goods shipped overseas and specialist areas such as healthcare and schooling.

State Governments such as South Australia will be on hand to discuss job opportunities, and highlight the best that their state has to offer migrants from the UK.

This is the ONLY show for Australia and New Zealand. Make sure you’re there.

COMING SOON! Check back regularly for exhibitor and seminar programme updates

January 30th – 10.30am to 5.30pm
January 31st – 10am to 4.30pm
Tickets from £5 per person. Under 16’s are admitted free.

Source  :  www.downunderlive.co.uk

   

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Australian skills shortage “a risk to recovery”

Industry leaders in Australia are urging the Australian federal government to overhaul its skilled immigration program to address a looming shortage of workers.

Recent changes by DIAC to the skilled migration visa processing times have meant that many hundreds of applicants for visas have been told that they may have to wait up to 3 years and this is slated to impact on several massive projects announced for Western Australia, including the Gorgon gas development, expansion of the Pluto LNG plant and the development of the Mid-West iron ore region including the massive Gindalbie iron ore mine which will need upwards of 1500 workers during the construction stage.

 The recent Australian Financial Review (afr.com.au) has stated that skills shortages are set to intensify in coming years.

The article calls for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to urgently look at reviewing Australian visa policies to ensure that these shortages can be filled. More immigrants will be needed to work in Australia in industries such as energy, mining  and IT which, according to the review, face a major skills shortage unless something drastic is done to alleviate it.

Major Australian firms such as infrastructure giant United Group have also released warnings to the government that they will be facing skills shortages within 12 to 18 months.

The firm’s CEO Richard Leupen declared that the shortage has been brought about as a result of the tightening of the business visa rules. He says this has coincided with the company’s reduction in training programmes for staff in response to the recession.

In the IT industry, the need is even more acute. A study, commissioned by Microsoft Australia, has found the IT industry will generate $21 billion for GDP by the end of 2013 but any potential growth could be stifled by the shortage of skilled labour.

Bruce Mills, chief executive of IT consultancy firm 3W, says as more IT work becomes available, such as the National Broadband Network, companies will struggle to grow and obtain new projects if the number of skilled workers remains flat.

“What has occurred is that everything that was done to avoid the global financial crisis has sort of spilled over, and so by the time any of the results were felt any issue that caused the crisis is over, and that is what has happened with the tightening of 457 visas.”

Source  :  www.australiamagazine.co.uk

Read Full Post »