In the job as a union official, if you are any good at it, you get to know a great number of personnel managers.
Indeed if you are considered even half good/balanced you will be invited to many coffee breaks and told in detail how employees are selected.
Some times the person opposite you is ex union official, such is life.
Few want to understand here, those folk, acting on behalf of their company, want a say in who THEY SELECT for the jobs.
Many who want the job ,big income, are unsuited to them.
In looking for workers who can hack it, live in isolation with others, fly in fly out, be there every time the plane leaves.
Not every one is the right stuff.
Get used to this debate.
It is but a seed the first of many.
Soon, if some one says no! if governments, mine, stand on sand hills trying to look good but uninformed STOP such a project!
One South Australian project demands ten thousand folk! a new town!
And has for 8 years been using 457 visas.
Storm in a tea cup, trying to inflate an issue few understand, we do not have enough workers to do this work.

Belly,

You would expect someone like Chris Sutherland who makes his living recruiting labour to understand the market.

This is from an opionion piece by Labor MP Kelvin Thomson, who ought to be our PM, as some of the commenters have said:

"A survey last year in Melbourne reported four out of five skilled migrants as unemployed or underemployed. The example was given of a young women with an engineering degree and seven years' industry experience, and who spoke advanced English, who had applied for 17 engineering jobs without getting an interview. She was working as an office cleaner.

Furthermore, while it is true that skilled shortages exist in some areas, I am concerned that they are being exaggerated by employers seeking to use migrant workers to undermine local wages and conditions and avoid the cost of investing in apprenticeships.

Unions have reported to me cases of the abuse of temporary migrant workers who are on sub-class 457 Visas, and have also reported cases of overseas workers being paid only 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the rates of pay of Australian workers."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-problem-with-enterprise-migration-agreements-20120529-1zg1v.html#ixzz1wJSgzyGK

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-problem-with-enterprise-migration-agreements-20120529-1zg1v.html#ixzz1wJHdHd2K

Dear Belly,

The following link gives us another viewpoint
that's not available in the tabloid press:

http://newmatilda.com/2012/05/29/we-need-rinehart-1700

cont'd ...

My apologies. I made a mistake citing the link.
Here it is again:

http://newmatilda.com/2012/05/29/we-need-rineharts-1700

*A survey last year in Melbourne reported four out of five skilled migrants as unemployed or underemployed*

Divergence, the highlight there is Melbourne. How many of these
people came here as students and then gained their visas through
that common loophole? As hairdressers perhaps and similar?

There was an interesting discussion this morning on WA radio. It
seems that despite the WA boom, Eastern States people mostly don't
want to leave their families to move to WA. According to the person
being interviewed, last year it was around 7000 who did, half being
family, so that is 3500 actual workers. Given the mining development
going on, that is enough for around half of one mining construction
site.

Fortesque may well be finding unskilled people to train, but that
is only a part of the equasion. It still needs trainers, people with
experience and qualifications to run the mines, do the engineering
work etc. One female engineer who can't find work in Melbourne does
not mean that there are thousands of engineers prepared to go the
heat, dust and flies of the Pilbara

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/13811688/cash-incentive-fails-to-bring-job-snobs-west/

Another story in today's West Australian, Divergence. Only 36 people
accepted up to 9000$ to move to the West for a job.

Personally of course I am quite happy not be to invaded by you
foreigners :) But the point remains, if the rest of Australia wants
the money to keep the country afloat, its going to need people to
build and operate these new mines.