MINING and construction companies could be forced to spend more on training Australian workers in exchange for getting easier access to low-skilled foreigners.
Federal Labor is planning to use a new fast-tracked migration program for the booming resources sector to raise money for training programs as part of a Budget focus on getting more people into work.
A draft government policy document, which is marked "in-confidence not for circulation", says employers should pay "an additional $5000 training requirement per each semi-skilled overseas worker nominated".
Extra training costs would be on top of existing rules for businesses that use foreign workers to spend 1-2 per cent of their payroll on training, the policy says.
Mining companies say the extra training costs amount to a new levy on businesses and warn it could discourage employers from sponsoring migrants and create delays in major projects.
The policy document says the Government would not collect the funds directly, but would monitor businesses to make sure they spend the pay the extra training costs.
The levy will be imposed on "mega" mining and construction projects that use semi-skilled migrant workers and could raise hundreds of millions of dollars over four years to fund skills programs.
Official government forecasts warn of a shortfall of 36,000 tradespeople in the resources sector by 2015.
But mining companies say they may need 61,000 extra workers over the next three years because of enormous growth in oil, coal and natural gas projects in Queensland and Western Australia.
If only half this number were classed as semi-skilled, the Government would raise an extra $155 million through the proposed extra training levy.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has flagged a major crackdown on welfare and extra funds for training in the Budget but warned these will be expensive.
Ms Gillard hinted that mining companies who use migrant labour could face new training obligations.
"It's not satisfactory to me for the mining industry in this country to say 'we need skilled workers' and for our national answer to be 'let's import them', while we know that there are kids (in Australia) that can't get a job and can't get a chance," Ms Gillard said yesterday.
Labor is also considering ways to encourage people to move from areas of high unemployment such as Cairns to boom towns such as Gladstone. This was based on trial programs used during flood reconstruction work in Queensland, Ms Gillard said.
The Government is negotiating with mining companies and unions about the plans to fast-track foreign workers.
Employers are furious about the planned extra training levy, which they say could go to industry funds run by unions. But unions are angry about plans to lower the eligibility to projects that use 1000 workers at their construction peak and cost $1 billion. Original plans were for fast-tracked migration to be limited to projects with capital expenditure of $2 billion or more.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the Government had not finalised its policy and was still consulting over the plans.
"The Government has always made it very clear it is committed to boosting Australia's skills base and ensuring Australian workers remain the first choice for employers and industry," he said.
