While some Australians are waiting for months to see a physiotherapist due to the national shortage, the Chilean physio Antonio Michell, specialist in trauma with 10 years of experience, has led a carpooling and the floors of scanning.
After having moved to Sydney in 2018, several successful exams and about $ 10,000 in examination costs and travel costs, the 38 -year -old is still waiting for Australia to recognize his qualifications to practice in his chosen field.
It is despite a national shortage of physiotherapists, according to the list of priorities of federal government's skills.
“I spent a lot of time with people in rural areas that were waiting for months to get a private physio meeting, and at the same time, I was swept away from the construction sites,” he told ABC.
“The feeling that you are not welcome from a professional point of view is quite disappointing.”
A new alliance of more than 50 groups of companies and unions says that multiple systems of recognition of slow and random skills managed by industry bodies have resulted in more than half a million permanent qualified migrants in situations like Mr. Michell, despite serious shortages of skills.
The alliance, called Australia Skills (AAS) Australia Skills, has published a report which revealed that 44% of qualified migrants occupy uncomplicated and unskilled jobs, despite two thirds of migrants having arrived at the government's qualified migration program.
The Director General of Settlement Services Australia, Violet Roumelotis AM, heads me for the group's campaign so that the federal government takes control of the skills recognition processes, which will be launched on Tuesday in Parliament.
“We get … engineers and doctors who drive carpooling codes or stacks shelves,” she said.
“We have qualified nurses who have worked for many years in other countries here in Australia, but they clean, they work in retail or hospitality.
“This is a fairly extraordinary situation.”
“Prohibitive costs” recognition schemes, unrecognized experience
The campaign will be supported by employers such as Allianz and Mercycare, groups of companies such as Masterbuilders, the Australian Council of Social Services and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Mr. Michell took years to save the $ 7,585 necessary for his skills to be recognized by Australian Physiotherapy Council, who forces candidates to go to Melbourne three times to sit down clinical assessments.
He passed his latest examination last week and is now waiting for a result.
But despite the treatment of 50,000 patients in Chile, Mr. Michell said that once he has obtained his Australian license, his qualifications would be the equivalent of a new university graduate.
“I'm going to start in an entry-level position,” he said.
“It could be too late for me, after eight years not to work as a clinician. It is time for no one to give me back.”
Mr. Michel said the delay would probably suffocate his career development, effectively forcing him to start from scratch. (ABC: Marcus Stimson))
The Australian Physiotherapy Council follows to accelerate certain countries which, according to them, have a similar education standard, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.
Roumeliotis said that the Alliance wanted a national governance system for recognition of skills abroad, including an online portal that explains exactly the required training and a mediator with regulatory surveillance.
He also hopes that a loan system, similar to the HECS program for university students, helps migrants pay for “costly” training and registration requirements.
“We have these highly qualified workers here ready to leave,” she said.
“We just need to activate this swimming pool and have them match the shortages of skills, as it will increase productivity.”
In health, four out of five professions are in shortage and nearly 200 GP clinics have closed across the country in the past year, according to the AAS report.
In construction, all commercial roles in construction and construction are in national shortage, but 18,400 permanent migrants with architecture and construction qualifications are underused.
Skills Minister Andrew Giles said the government had provided $ 1.8 million in the last budget to “rationalize” skills assessments for construction workers, but that the government was focused on the confusion of Australian skills to fill shortages.
“The Albanian government wants to see more Australians filling these essential roles, which is why we have worked with states and territories to stimulate our veterinary sector thanks to the national skills agreement and to remove financial obstacles under study through our free TAFE program,” he said.