British workers could be lured Down Under

Plans to lure British construction workers to Australia's sunnier climes through a fast track immigration programme are on the cards, as Western Australia battles with a severe skills shortage.

The Western Australian government warned last week it may have to cancel some of its capital projects due to lack of skilled workers. It called on central government to change the federal immigration system to allow it to fast-track skilled English-speaking construction workers.

Western Australia is experiencing unprecedented growth with its economy expanding by 14% last year. The State government is investing £7.2bn in a major infrastructure spending programme, but a significant skills shortage has left the programme facing serious delays and soaring costs.

Lack of skilled labour on the North West Shelf Infrastructure project has forced the state government to consider sending some materials to the Philippines to be prefab- ricated, adding significant costs to the project.

A spokeswoman for the Australian High Commission told CJ that Australia had increased its quota for skilled workers this year from 80,000 to 100,000 under its Skilled Migration Programme. "We are hold- ing road shows in London, Manchester and Dublin next month where applicants can meet with potential employers.

"We also have priority lists for skills like construction, which process applicants as quickly as possible." She said under the points system English speaking applicants would get greater priority.

However, the Western Australian correspondent for SBS radio said the system was not fast enough. He explained: "The government is saying that even though we can get workers through the Skilled Migration Programme, let's cut through the red tape and fast track this so we can get skilled workers now, because we need them now."

Western Australian State Treasurer Eric Ripper said he could not specify which projects are likely to be shelved, but those that are deemed low priority are most likely to be affected.

Western Australia currently has the lowest unemployment rate in Australia, at just 3.6%, compared with a national rate of 4.9%.