Getting work down under

However if the company closes or the worker isn’t satisfactory he or she has to return to their homeland.

Sponsor companies in the cities have to pay overseas workers AUD $39,000 a year (about Rp 24 million a month) but those in regional areas can get dispensation to pay lower rates.

Mike Smith, director of overseas employment agency YWA Global told The Jakarta Post that his company recruited heavily from the Philippines where many workers spoke English.

Only a few had come from Indonesia to work as halal slaughtermen killing sheep and cattle for Muslim consumers. Vietnam and China were other popular sources for labour.

“...our company recruitment costs, including visas and air fares, are paid by the employer,” he said. “These can be up to AUD $8,000 (Rp 60 million) but the employers are desperate - they just can’t get staff.

“They get paid and treated the same as Australian employees. There’s no exploitation.” Smith’s agency is based in Western Australia, a state with less than 4 per cent of the workforce unemployed.

Labour unions in Australia have been wary of the scheme and claim the Federal Government should be doing more to train unemployed Australians. Some politicians have suggested that not all workers will voluntarily return home if their visas were cancelled.

But according to immigration department statistics Indonesia does not rank among the top ten countries whose residents overstay. And fears that Australia’s surging economy will falter without more workers have smothered most concerns.

Smith said the overseas workers had a good record of attendance and a strong work ethic. They had to pay tax and their own health insurance, but were covered by worker’s compensation for accidents on the job. Social welfare programs, like unemployment benefits and pensions, are not available to 457 visa holders.

“I don’t like the term ‘guest workers’. It gives the wrong impression,” Smith said. “Most of the people we bring here eventually want to become Australian citizens. I’ve been told that the labour shortages in Australia will continue for the next ten years.”