Australia, explained.
Wasted talent? (William West/AFP via Getty Images)
A failure to quickly recognise migrant skills damages relationships in the Indo-Pacific region Australia seeks to court.
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Australia wastes a soft power advantage with skilled migrantsAustralia wastes a soft power advantage with skilled migrants
Australia is competing with developed countries the world over to fill labour shortages. But for skilled migrants already in the country, their potential is too often going to waste. When highly trained health professionals, engineers and social scientists are reduced to driving taxis, there is a cost to Australia – not just economically, but reputationally, in the message people send home.
Recognition of overseas qualifications is an important and longstanding issue. Campaigns have sought to resolve the tension in ensuring skills – particularly those related to high-risk professions such as health, medicine, and engineering – can be fairly recognised without compromising Australian standards. The debate largely revolves around the estimated 253,000 permanent migrants in Australia presently working below their skill level because their past experience or qualifications are not recognised.
Like other “people-to-people” areas of diplomacy, the connections of these skilled migrants are a potential foreign policy asset. But the frustration can cut the other way, damaging views of Australia when skilled migrants are stuck in underemployment or unemployment due to an overly bureaucratic qualifications recognition system. Many of these people have come from countries in the Indo-Pacific, the region Australia seeks to prioritise in its foreign relations.
The federal government was urged at its recent economic productivity roundtable to help migrants have their skills recognised by streamlining the existing complex system, which features 39 skilled migration assessing authorities across 650 occupations.
A 2024 Settlement Services International (SSI) report estimated that “Australia can unlock $9 billion each year simply by harnessing the skills potential of permanent migrants already here.” The economic benefit is obvious. What is harder to quantify but not less serious is the reputational cost associated with the present logjam.
It cannot be forgotten that the cost to Australia is more than just dollars. The country’s soft power is at stake in valuing skilled migrants as foreign policy assets.
Evidence suggests that skilled migrants feel undervalued. Experts worry about discrimination and whether “Australia’s recruitment processes might have a race problem”. A 2023 Grattan Institute report warned that widespread underemployment of migrant workers in Australia can also lead to exploitation and “a stain on Australia’s reputation”.
This is more than an administrative policy gap. The present system undermines the skilled migration needs that Australia sees as essential to its future. While investing billions via development assistance to strengthen regional ties and influence, Australia quietly squanders one of its most influential soft-power assets: a diaspora of highly skilled professionals with potential to serve as cultural ambassadors and economic bridges.
Many useful ideas and evidence-backed recommendations have been suggested to the government to fix this issue. Professional organizations and groups have appealed for bridging courses or programs as practiced in Canada and the United Kingdom for allowing foreign qualified individuals to enter a profession. Drawing on best practices internationally, a framework of change could be developed in Australia: the creation of a centralised national authority to streamline existing skills recognition bodies that treats migrant expertise not as surplus labour but as an asset. Fast-track pathways could be introduced in critical sectors for the skilled migrants already in the country. Meantime, the establishment of mutual recognition agreements with Indo-Pacific partners for incoming skilled migrants would not only speed up professional assessments but also demonstrate respect for regional expertise.
Rather than wasting the work of attracting people to Australia and then leaving them to sink or swim in a complicated foreign system, the provision of clear information to the aspirants and allowing them to undertake professional assessments in their home countries or remotely would also enhance the migration program.
Reforms take time. As acknowledged by Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood, “productivity reform is a game of inches and we need to make progress across a range of fronts”. But it cannot be forgotten that the cost to Australia is more than just dollars. The country’s soft power is at stake in valuing skilled migrants as foreign policy assets.
About the author
Sohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar is a Kashmiri-born author, academic and policy researcher now based in Melbourne.
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