KATTER'S Australian Party Federal Leader and Member for Kennedy Bob Katter continued his fight against 457 visas this week with the introduction of a new bill to curb skilled and unskilled migration numbers.
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On Monday Mr Katter introduced the Migration Amendment (Temporary Sponsored Visas) Bill 2013 to the House of Representatives in a bid to keep jobs in mining and other industries available to Australians, and Australians only.
Chefs and hospitality workers make up the vast majority of 457 visa workers accepted into Queensland and support regional Australian businesses providing services for small communities whose citizens often work in high-paid industry jobs.
Mr Katter conceded some small businesses and individuals should not be criticised for their use of foreign workers as 'cheap and easy short-term solutions'.
Burger Chief owner John Stringer is a small business owner in Mount Isa who disagrees with Mr Katter's description of the 457 visa process.
Like other hospitality businesses in the city, Mr Stringer struggles to attract Australian workers to work in his business.
He said 457 visa workers weren't any cheaper to hire than Australians as employers were required to pay foreign staff above the minimum hospitality wage.
"They aren't easy visas to get, not for the employers because there is a lot of red tape you have to go through at the moment, and it's not easy for the applicant," he said.
Mr Stringer recently lodged an application to re-hire a Taiwanese employee, Tatar, who left Australia this May after his working visa expired.
"The hospitality industry is jolly hard work and to find someone who is a hard worker, honest and diligent is difficult - he was all of those things," he said.
"I wouldn't let an Australian employee go if I could find one like that."
It could take up to three months for Burger Chief to get Tatar back on Australian soil working in their kitchen, however it was a period of time they said they were willing to wait.
"We couldn't fill that role locally, not to the standard we want," Mr Stringer said.
The KAP amendments aim to increase the scope of employment streams requiring testing of the Australian jobs market prior to the employment of foreign workers, cap the annual 457 visa intake at 6000 and establish a register of 457 visa sponsor employers, including their number of foreign workers and the positions occupied.
Mr Katter said the proliferation of 457 visa workers - including an average of 38,000 a year under the former LNP government - skyrocketed by 300 per cent under the ALP to more than 125,000 last year alone.
