Recruit Australians: PM
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has urged the mining industry to recruit Australians willing to work on projects rather than bring in temporary skilled migrants.
Ms Gillard told the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies Convention in Perth yesterday there were 16,000 jobseekers now registered on the new Jobs Board and more than 1400 jobs to be filled in the industry.
“These are hard-working Australians looking to your industry for a chance,” Ms Gillard said. “The nation as a whole is looking to you as well.
“Yes, migration has a place but it’s not going to be the cure-all that some may think.”
She said construction and manufacturing workers were available in Hobart and Adelaide where there had been a softening of activity in the industry.
Mining firms were holding job expos in the United States rather than in the Eastern States of Australia, she said.
