ValleyView's nurse hunt hampered by red tape

METRO-BASED skilled worker visas are being prioritised for processing over regional areas, such as Collie, according to Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson.

Mr Wilson is calling on the Federal Government to prioritise processing of regional workers and reverse its decision to “impose a de facto regional processing penalty on skilled workers” in priority sectors.

He said regional communities in his electorate, including Collie, are crying out for skilled healthcare workers, nurses, disability support workers, teachers and doctors, but are being unfairly prevented from priority visa processing because of Federal Government-imposed red tape.

ValleyView chief executive officer Mark Sheldon-Stemm said he agrees with Mr Wilson’s remarks, with the aged care home struggling to appoint registered nurses.

“We would love the Federal Government to do something about getting more registered nurses into regional areas,” he said.

Mr Sheldon-Stemm said he has been looking for RN’s for almost two years.

“We have been trying for 18 months and have tried job agencies, but it’s just not happening,” he said.

“It’s a real issue for us.

“It means our current nurses are doing a lot of hours.”

He has heard it is taking a lot longer, up to two to three years, to get skilled workers from overseas for regional areas.

He said this was due to the Federal Government taking so long to process visa applications.

Mr Wilson said the government was failing to recognise the skilled regional visa (subclass 887) in its prioritisation, effectively encouraging skilled workers to move to the city.

He said the government had issued a directive to prioritise visa applications for healthcare or teaching roles.

“However, the direction did not account for applications for skilled regional visas,” Mr Wilson said.

“As a result, when a healthcare worker or a teacher, or any other occupation, applies for a skilled regional visa, they are put at the bottom of the pile and not given priority processing even if they want to take up a critical role, such as a nurse, in a regional town or community.”

Mr Wilson said this has been confirmed in official correspondence from the Department of Immigration.

The website states 90 percent of skilled regional visas were being processed in 27 months. He added that information released under FOI indicates there could be as many as 19,000 skilled regional visas awaiting processing.

Mr Wilson said regional members of parliament have received a large volume of enquiries from constituents with outstanding skilled regional visa applications, and have been raising them with the immigrant minister.

“Our community deserves better than being relegated to the slow lane of visa processing just because we live in rural and regional Australia,” Mr Wilson said.

“It is just not good enough and I am calling it out.

“My office is regularly contacted by people seeking updates on the progress of their 887 visas.

"It must be disheartening for them to know they’ve been pushed to the back of the line.”