A Queensland Country Life online poll has revealed the majority of our audience don’t believe Australia’s meat industry will be negatively impacted by the Federal government changes to 457 temporary skilled work visas.
This is despite the meat industry’s peak representative body swiftly expressing concern after the visas abolition last week.
Butchers and small goods maker are on the list of proposed jobs for removal from 457 visas.
The online poll received a total of 285 votes to the question ‘Do you believe abolishing 457 work visas will jeopardise the future of our meat industry?’.
Results at time of publishing (April 26) were 69.5 per cent of people responded ‘No’ to the question, while 27pc clicked ‘Yes’ with the remaining 3.5pc of respondents ‘Unsure’ if the meat industry would be jeopardised by abolishing the 457 temporary work visa system.
The vast majority of people answering the question were in Australia, but interestingly overseas respondents from some of our nation’s strongest competitors in international beef markets, the United States (80pc) and Brazil (100pc), believed the visa system changes would impact our meat industry.
Also those answering the online poll from Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden and South Africa feel the 457 visa changes would put our local meat industry at risk.
Meanwhile respondents from Canada, China, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand don’t believe the meat industry will be negatively impacted.
The government will replace the abolished 457 visa with two new temporary skills visas.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last Monday a two year visa and a more specialised four year one “targeted at higher skills” will replace the previous 457 visa.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton also confirmed the government will cut down the list of 650 jobs available to two year 457 visa applicants.
In a statement last week the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) slammed the Federal government over its lack of consultation before abolishing the 457 temporary skilled work visa.
The group said the move had the potential to play a part in impacting the future viability of the industry, which was already under pressure from external challenges including the worst terms of trade on record, high input costs and increasing regulatory burdens.
The statement also said the meat processing industry is presently included in the Accommodation and Food Services classification for 457 visas and current figures show 15,000 current visas are on issue in this category, which represents more than 15pc of total 457 visa numbers.