Submission to Draft Core Skills Occupation List Consultation

Master Builders was supportive overall of the Migration Strategy released by Government in November 2023, but remains disappointed by the express carve out of tradespeople from the Specialist Skills pathway in the proposed Skills in Demand visa.

Master Builders fundamentally disagrees with the concept of differentiating highly paid trade workers from their white-collar counterparts.

Given skilled trade workers cannot enter Australia through the Specialist Skills pathway, nor the Essential Skills pathway, it follows that they must be included on the CSOL so they can enter Australia via the Core Skills pathway. To exclude any trade or trade-related profession in building and construction at a time of critical workforce shortages would be a failure.