Are you an exception to the rule or are you a lazy bum and assume everyone else is too?

Probably neither. Education and life experience teaches people a lot about understanding.

Paint, I first got interested in this topic when I went to have a (rare) hair cut. The hairdresser was a Pommie, and I asked how she was able to get work in Australia ... and she explained about the "special" visas. She'd been working here for years.

Now, I kind of "get" that we might have occasional shortages of people like doctors - or specialists like marine biologists (or whatever).

But, if we have unemployed people, and there are jobs in the 457 list that we HAVE to fill ... why not target the unemployed, send them to TAFE and have them take training courses in hairdressing, or being a make-up artist, or managing a bed and breakfast ... or some of the other job types listed?

Is it about paying 457 workers less? Is it about bypassing unions? Is it a war on the working class?

And, why aren't the media onto this? Some of their jobs are on the list ...

see that's the thing Aussies think they work hard but in all honesty they don't. Most are very lazy when compared to others. In the mines they whinge about the heat out there, they whinge about the cold, they whinge about having to do 12 hours work, they whinge about the meals they are a pack of whinges for the most part. That's why the Irish, kiwis and chinese get the jobs.

REALLY?
Have you worked on a mine? I have! I didn't come across 1 Irish man, not one. The guys didn't whine about working in the 50' + heat nor the long work hours, they did whinge about the food a bit but that's to be expected, their major cause of complaint was people thinking FIFO is easy money. The vast majority of guys I worked with were and are still AUSTRALIAN! The only one I knew of on a visa was a South African/Scotsman.

Mugssy65, I was reading the other day....

 

WA has been rocked by a spate of FIFO suicides, nine in the past year, and Mr McGowan said deaths attributable to mental health causes in the mining industry had reached a crisis point.

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/mcgowan-hopeful-but-does-not-expect-support-for-fifo-inquiry-20140...

 

I suppose some would say that is just whinging as well, the same people who ignore the evidence that shift work is bad for your health in many ways. 

I didn't know there were nine that's really sad, the last one that they made a huge hoohar ov I don't believe can be attributed to the industry alone, the guy had a marriage break up followed by a relationship break up and was wearing what we call the iron ore handcuffs, he had made an attempt at taking his life just weeks before and his family knew, I believe someone should have let his employers or co workers know.
I'm not calling anyone a whiner, the FIFO life is not for everyone BUT it's sooooo much easier today! We have mobile phones and Skype and regular rosters, all things we never had when my OH started years ago!

Mugssy, I didn't think you were calling anyone a whinger. yes life in all industries is way better that it used to be, thanks to us "whinging" Aussies and our Trade Unions.

Kateydid, could your "Pommy" hairdresser have been on a working holiday traveling round Australia? You do need a work visa for that, I think you also need one if you migrate here until your residency is granted, I think there are many different visas covering many workers.

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@mugssy65 wrote:
Kateydid, could your "Pommy" hairdresser have been on a working holiday traveling round Australia? You do need a work visa for that, I think you also need one if you migrate here until your residency is granted, I think there are many different visas covering many workers.

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There are some that trained in hairdressing so they could move to Australia as hairdressing was/is on the list of demand exceeding supply. Odd that there are not enough apprenticeships but that's another story.  I've worked with admin people who also got a visa because of the fictitous shortage of office people.