In lack of arms, Australia reopens its borders

After having hermetically closed its borders to protect itself from Covid-19, between March 2020 and December 2021, Australia has decided to open them wide. Faced with a serious shortage of manpower, the Labor government announced on Friday 2 September that it was going to raise the qualified immigration quota by 22% to welcome 195,000 foreigners a year. A historic record. The decision was taken at the end of the National Summit on Employment and Skills, which brought together trade unions and employers’ organisations, on Thursday 1^er and Friday, September 2, in Canberra.

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In July, the unemployment rate had also reached a historic low, falling to 3.4%. This is the lowest level since 1974. For 480,000 currently vacant jobs, only 470,000 job seekers are available. “I have been looking for two pastry chefs and a saleswoman for four months. I tried everything, spent hundreds of dollars, but nothing, I can’t find anyone. It’s extremely stressful.”, is in despair Gabriela Oporto, owner of a small pastry shop which has just opened in Forestville, north of Sydney. In its shopping street of barely two hundred meters, at least five businesses are struggling to recruit. The manager of Domino’s Pizza, James Bird, saw his delivery times explode, for lack of delivery drivers, and is now seeing a drop in sales.

Zero Covid Policy

“The Australian labor market has always needed foreign workers to meet all of its needs. Because of the pandemic, we had to rely mainly on the Australian workforce but it is not enough”explains Brendan Rynne, chief economist of KPMG.

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For nearly two years, the island-continent, which had adopted a zero Covid policy, left foreign workers at the door and those already present on its territory on the floor. “It’s time to go home”, had advised, in April 2020, the prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison, to holders of temporary visas who could not support themselves. As a result, Australia – where half of the 25 million inhabitants have at least one parent born in another country – must now deal with some 500,000 fewer immigrants than expected, according to KPMG calculations, and convince potential foreign workers that borders will no longer close in on them.

On farms, farmers are reduced to letting their fruit rot on the trees

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