The mixed messages of youth employment and unemployment in 2014 Australia

 Picture above is from here

Darwin is one place where there is a drastic labour shortage, as local workers flock to the new $34bn Ichthys gas project, and as my colleague Helen Davidson reported this week it is also an eligible location under a new government incentive scheme which offers unemployed Australians up to $9,000 to move for work.

Not many have taken up the offer yet, and we probably won’t get the chance to see whether the new hardline welfare policies make a difference to that because the government has just designated Darwin as a special migration area where employers can fill jobs in 19 occupations with foreign workers.

...The above is an extract from a Lenore Taylor article. Read it in its entirety here.

Further reading:

• 457 Visa
• NT's Ichthys project: move to relax 457 visas 'an attack on young unemployed' ----Greens and unions condemn concessions on visa requirements amid labour shortage created by giant gas project 
•  Australian Government - Working in Australia
• Department of Immigration and Border Protection - Designated Areas of Australia  
• Darwin to have a 'designated area migration agreement' to combat skills drain to LNG projects
• Dept of Immigration and Border Protection Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia

The picture below is from here