Australia must confront the very real trouble we are in because of skills shortage and willing workers shortages.
We just do not have workers to do some work, once workers toured this country doing work other did not like picking peas, good money could be earn and not too bad a lifestyle.
Not now, a person holding a stop and go bat directing traffic may well earn 70% more than a worker picking fruit and living in a shed.
We have failed to train workers over at least a ten year span, country town men and women are leaving home to work in western Australia or Queensland mines earning close to 6 figure sums, why stay in rural Australia for less.
We need an answer it may , indeed is out of our hands must be imported workers.
My only concern with that is they must be treated well, not as they have been disposable people!
It is not a moral action to use these people then send them home.
It may interest some that jobs are on offer in south Australia, unskilled low paid jobs, workers can not be found, is the answer more money?
We still have unemployed, some indeed are work shy but is it fair to ask them to migrate within the country they belong to to find work? if the job pays enough yes.
We do not have enough skilled workers for the next ten years and it will bring trouble for us all.

Belly,
You know, Vic Rail used to run special fruit pickers trains from Melbourne to fruit areas and people would work their holidays to suit fruit picking. All paid cash in hand and many a husband and wife paid off their house/land by fruit picking. One also used to be able to go to markets unloading fruit and veg for a few hours before starting normal job. All this encouraged those that were willing. Keating Gov stopped this by insisting ALL workers had to have a Tax File Number to get a job, and sent a few inspectors to fruit areas so the extra pay dried up. People decided it was not worth it for the hard work, and it IS hard work make no mistake about that.

Australia has to train our own skilled workers and give incentives for others to work to stop all the wages going out of the country.

I really think that people willing to do the hard jobs (e.g. fruit picking, shearing, etc.) and dirty jobs should be tax free. The money soon is back in the economy anyway and that is far better for us than wages leaving our shores.

The Labor government (under Whitlam) disbanded the technical schools. They have never been brought back. We were told all kids should aim for university instead. This was said to be "equal opportunity". We were also told that there was something shameful about not making the grade to enter university, that technical education was somehow second rate.
When the Coalition did endeavour to do something about the situation they were halted in their tracks by the Australian Education Union who said, "No, what we need is more money in our present schools."
It has also reached a point where we no longer teach "dangerous" subjects like woodwork and metalwork (and heaven forbid that a girl might be allowed to do them!)
The old tech schools produced great results - previous governor of South Australia was a 'tech-school boy' and many of them are the bread that holds up professional butter.
But, ask the AEU and they will tell you that all we need is more money wasted on social education programmes and curricula that do not focus on the basics that will allow the student who wishes to go on learning alone.

Belly,
Its the same for nurse training. Nothing wrong with a girl of 15 doing nurse training at the regional hospital and earning some money as an apprentice. Some elites just thought it was more prestegious to have a Uni degree to fit their professional status. Now we have a nursing shortage.

I garrantee I will still hold nurses in the highest esteem with or without a Uni degree.

I have gone to those schools Communicat, let us stop the Liberals are to blame thing here its both party's that owe us better.
China and that other giant importer of our minerals is driving our skills shortage.
Right now country workers are no longer picking fruit[ Banjo I earned my fathers fortnights pay in a few days picking fruit]
Country workers, farm owners are driving massive mining gear for wages that are extraordinary, not enough of them .
Lower skilled workers not wanting to gain new skills or move are earning much less training is being offered by international firms but not enough Australians are taking it.
Who takes the low income jobs?
We do not have enough workers to fuel this mining boom, it may last 30 years.
It drains rural towns who fills those jobs?
It continues to push wages up in those industry's that need the skills head hunting is not the answer the pool is not big enough.
Migration frightens some not me we will have no other option soon.
Standing still, not producing is not an option in a world market on fire.

Very funny, Belly. Very funny. What this is about is what it has always been about. Undercutting wages with desperate people who will be sent back if they utter a peep of complaint. So what if people take well paid jobs over badly paid crap jobs? Why not import what cant be produced economically here and support the development of other countries? I would have thought that having heaps of Australians in well paid jobs was a good thing. Evidently you would like to see more slaves about. Not me. I would rather see someone nut out a solution instead of the moronic call "More slaves! More slaves!".

What was the industrial revolution all about anyway? Couldn't the population have kept breeding like rabbits and solved all their economic woes? Gosh, now I'm starting to sound like a property developer.