...been doing regular shutdowns at KNR over the past four years and hourly rate plus conditions have been steadily driven down while more and more 457's turned up. On the last one they were taking the unpaid half hour lunch break out of our double time, day and night!

These people are great to work with, and good on 'em for chasing a better wicket for themselves and their families back home, but you have to believe the cost of living is much lower in the Philippines/Cambodia/etc, and big business is taking advantage of that at the expense of local workers.

Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, IT workers, Marketers, Nurses and more are all being sold down the river by both sides of politics to serve the interests of the business lobby.

Been going on for a long time now.

This site does a good job of exposing the scam   http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2015/10/business-howls-at-threat-to-its-457-underclass/

 How does your employer continue to be competitive in the current global market without lowering overheads ie wages .. Is that something local workers are willing to negotiate on in order to keep their jobs or are the high wages sustainable ?

I'm a ceiling fixer

We have had asians in our industry for a long time now. I don't really have a problem with them as my regular clients still prefer to pay the extra for guaranteed quality.

However in the last 6 months on the commercial side i have noticed the builders just not being able to say no to 20-30% cheaper quotes, and on large scale jobs that is alot of coin.

The only way to compete is to employ them for half the wage I could pay an aussie for and lower my quality standards, which I am not willing to do.

I've had builders use them and whinge and say they would never use them again, yet on the next job they just can't say no once they see the dollar signs.

I actually have one working for me which is an australian citizen, been here for 10 years, however his work, ethic, presentation, communication is top notch so I pay him the same wage I pay all my other workers (before anyone claims I'm judging un fairly)

Is definitely interesting times for us.

 We're pretty busy still, (cabinet maker) but next year looks pretty bleak as our usual builders are not pouring any slabs coz times are tight and people aren't spending coin willy nilly as they were say 3 years ago, we lost a regular builder late last year as he was searching for every spare dollar he could, funny really because when we were doing his work and times were good he kept saying how we were so good and he doesn't have to worry when we have the job and it always turns out good but when times got tight he was happy to go for the cheaper product which im guessing wasnt the best product. Im a bit pissed really because i was hoping to start out on my own (installing) or take a change altogether this year, but with things the way they are it looks a bit too unsafe and risky. So i hope that things dont get too much worse. 

My one hate is when i go to a site and there are foreign tradies, usually tilers and they cant speak english. The one thing if they wanna work onsite here is they need to speak english properly. Its unsafe for them and everyone around them. We gotta get a white card and do all this training in safe work practise but they can get dropped off at a site with a bucket of tools and usually a smoke in their mouth not know (or pretend to not know) english and put every one in danger. But good on them tho they work like trojans and with out them our small housing industry would be pretty much rooted, and not as affordable for the first homebuyer.

dont think we can insulate ourselves from the rest of the world ,itd be great to  import cheap steel ,clothing , online because its cheap,and export at record prices but sadly doesnt work that way,

 most local  businesses have their lifes savings on the line,and unless one wins the contract then he may need to shut the door , sometimes businesses takes on work at cost so as to retain his employees and also in the hope that the next one will pay dividends.but the overall trend for employees & and employers is downwards.   

This country used to have a lot of varied industries, we made TVs, radios, cars (foreign owned admittedly) shoes shirts and other odds and sods.

There was a tariff that protected these manufactures from the cheaper made products produce by countries which had a cheaper labour content in the price.

Over a relatively short period Australia dropped the tariff on imported goods and various products became quite a bit cheaper to the consumer, yeah yippee the consumers cried.

Australian companies could not compete on price with these imports so, the Australian made companies either folded up or took their plant over seas to make us of this source of cheap foreign labour.

Suddenly a lot of Australian companies stopped making goods, who cares, we can by the goods cheaper. However a lot of people lost their jobs, I don't give a rats I'm all right jack.

Well one day you are on the redundant cue just like all the good other people, then people stopped buy stuff, this further hurt the Australian economy bugger what are we going to do!

I know we will let foreign conglomerates buy our iron ore gas etc at very low cost made available by dirt cheap royalty charges to get these companies to operate in Australia. The boom started (may be 20 years back) Everyone had pockets full of money to play with yippee again.

Then about 5 years ago it all started to slow down and last year it ground to a halt. The local businesses where charging everyone like a wounded bull shopping centre rents where sky high, retailers charges exorbitant prices to cover the higher rent employers had to pay high wages to get workers. In the after light of the boom all the prices have remained very high, they haven't come down to reality.

The money it got from royalties has been blown on unnecessary bling (stadium Elizabeth key etc)not info structure to make life better for the states citizens.

Now if the American carpet bagger gets into power and carries out all the changes he says he is going to implement watch the world turn upside down, how is he going to create jobs you may well ask, easy bring back tariffs to protect American manufactures from cheap overseas consumer goods.

And IMO if we want hirer employment that is what Australia and a lot of other countries need to get back to. Make your own country better and sod the rest.

Rant over

Understand all of the above comments,especially the employer thing.

But in the O&G side of things, the cost to produce has very little to do with what we pay for it.

Certainly now oil prices are below what some sectors cost to produce.

But also, a company such as Chevron which pays little or no tax in Aus-the only benefit Aus really gets is us spending here. 

There is no country which is socially or geographically similar to us, who has so completely sold out their shipping sector.

US has the Jones Act-Austal or Incat cannot build ships there without engaging a US company partner.

Coastal shipping is all US.

UK gave tax incentives and their Registry is healthy.

Indonesia has cabotage

Australia-does not have a SINGLE oil tanker on its registry.

Every litre of our fuel whether from the remaining local refineries or Singapore, is carted on Flag of Convenience tankers if not trucked.

I too, have worked with Philipino tradies many of whom are excellent workers.

It is when they are paid below Aus wages, live in a shed and do not have to support a family HERE that I am not happy.

A mate of mine works in the public service and had said the last three years the state of WAs economy had contracted 8, 8 and 7 or so % sans exports. Having a few mates lose their jobs and struggle to find alternate work, as well as a mate who runs his own business it appears this side of the boom seems a sharp fall from grace.

Having a look at the skilled occupations list is interesting, a mate of mine is a Metalurgist and got made redundant, can't get another job now working in a cafe, my better half is a nurse and the state government is trying to cull its workforce. So it's interesting those occupations alone are on there.

The increase use of the 457 skilled migration has done exactly as the critics said, and as what has happened in other countries eg UK. By and large it is used to lower wages and conditions as well as keep the industry ticking over.

There will always be a need for skilled migration along with other migration but the skills sets being transient. The long term strategic of having industries in place such as shipping, ship building, heavy engineering industry etc faces large challenges in a country like ours Is difficult given Diametric polar opposites in the 2 major parties with their some of their policies means a tariff or cabotage for an industry may only last the term of the incumbent government.  

I feel sorry for the small businesses trying to compete eg the trade vs someone for minimum wage. Everyone looks for the spare dollars my suggestion would be to support local businesses, no eBay/online shopping but also make a more moral/ethic decision when also supporting those businesses. Do you go through self service checkouts, where is the food produced, where is it made etc

We might save dollars now, but cumulatively and progressively less people working more people heading towards the queue at Centrelink if they can't find work

I pay my sparkies $40-$45/hour, and all penalties. I have a great retention rate, and most are pretty happy.

Recently, Ive had quite a few blokes coming off the NW shelf gas projects looking for work with us.

Every one of them told me to get fucked, they wouldnt work for anything less than $65.

At $65, I would be making a loss..... No wonder employers are looking at 457's.

Having read some of the above posts which outline how some people who are unemployed have come in for job interviews then told the prospective employer to show the job position because it doesn't pay what they want is their prerogative, however. However, myself I would rather have some income than no income.

I can't relate to the commercial world as most of my working life was with the defence force so exposure to the many ways of the construction industry are unknown to me.

The immediate past boom in the construction industry up north has often been described as "a once in a generational boom" with no more large projects forecast (going on what's in the paper) I think some people may be looking for an event that is not going to happen in the fore see able future. And I feel sorry for those people to some extent, however I think facts must be faced and they need to adjust to a much lower income and move on and face the new challenges that come with such things.

 So, having read all of the comments does anyone thing it's a good idea bringing 457's in like this?

 NO   as a welder  they are a pest  .....should have never been allowed in   were are the young ozzy apprentices . is that the thing off the past .... look what happen sipam tryed to bring in there blokes to do that inpex pipeline  an the shit that went on on that job .. you will not believe  this is our country WE HAVE TO PROTECT IT just like our grandfathers did ,  once its gone its gone  just like the jobs .   I worked away from my family to get ahead  an I am not asking for bigs bucks home just a goods days pay for good days work   

I've spent many years of my life too working around the world on different drilling platforms so I guess I'm a hypocrite.

But...ultimately this is just sending Aus $ overseas making Australia poorer paycheck by paycheck.

 why an how this government is letting it happen  I feel for my little boys they want to be welders aswell

I get a bit of work when I need it, was over at Gladstone working on the gas plant there a couple of years back and the 457 guys were like a plague. I'm a heavy duty diesel fitter, and found myself constantly fixing up the stuff ups by these guys.