The Australian Aged Care Collaboration, which represents more than 1000 providers caring for a million elderly Australians, has written to Health Minister Greg Hunt and Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck demanding a “dedicated aged care skilled migration program”.
“We need the barriers to migration to be lifted,” Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Paul Sadler, who co-signed the letter, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Mr Sadler said border closures during the pandemic had made existing workforce shortages worse.
“We’re really struggling to find enough staff to keep the doors open,” he said.
Unions, however, say foreign workers are not the answer and wages in the sector must lift, but a Fair Work Commission case seeking a 25 per cent increase will not be heard until next year.
The 2020 Aged Care Workforce Census estimated there were 22,000 vacancies in direct care roles across the aged care sector in November and employers across the economy are competing over the 79,600 skilled migrants able to enter the country by July 2022.
The Committee for Economic Development of Australia has warned of a looming shortage of 110,000 aged care workers over the coming decade.
Mr Sadler called on the government to put aged care workers on the skilled occupations list, which includes registered nurses but not personal care workers or enrolled nurses, and for a lifting of restrictions on geographic areas overseas workers can be employed in.
