"We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains: Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we are abolishing the 457 visa, the visa that brings temporary foreign workers into our country", he said.
About 20 per cent, 34,000, are British nationals living in Australia.
SCRAPPING 457 Visas is fine but more money needs to be invested in skills and training according to Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman.
The scheme has been criticised by some for being too accessible to foreign nationals, having been originally created to fill gaps in the skilled market. A total of 200 occupations were cut from the new program, including ICT support and test engineers, ICT support technicians, telecommunications technicians and web developers.
As for Australia, he said the changes announced by the Australian government replaced one scheme with another.
The ministry also added that it's in touch with Australia as well regarding the changes in that country's work visa programme.
The wideranging shake-up to the citizenship test which will also include strict new English language requirements.
The 457 visa category enables Australian firms to hire skilled foreigners for four years due to shortage of native workers with same skills.
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The new visa will be subject to work experience and English language tests for workers, and labour market testing to prove jobs cannot be filled locally.
So we're abolishing. the visas that bring temporary foreign workers into our country. Samarjit Guha, whose son Sagnik has gone for a six-month exchange programme to Australia, said, "My son will not be affected since he is on a short-term stay in Sydney".
However, Malcolm Turnbull appears to be on a blitz and the Federal Government announced today that sweeping immigration changes would also be applied to the Australian citizenship laws.
"There is no doubt foreign workers have played a significant role in the remarkable economic growth of the nation", he said.
Aspiring citizens will undergo tougher tests on their English language skills and ability to demonstrate "Australian values", PM Malcolm Turnbull said. The implementation of the reforms will begin immediately and will be completed in March 2018.
Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox said the existing 457 visa system was opaque and open to abuse and he hoped the new scheme would be more transparent.
The citizenship test was introduced by the Howard government in 2007 and in its first iteration seriously included a question about Donald Bradman's batting average. However, when there aren't enough skilled workers available, a small number of temporary visas can be the deciding factor in whether or not a large investment goes ahead.
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