State Migration Plans are being introduced for each state and territory over the coming months in 2010.
The Plans will provide state and territory governments with flexibility within the Migration Program to address specific skill shortages and local labour market needs as each agreement will be tailored to the individual requirements of each jurisdiction.
While state and territory governments have had the capacity to nominate applicants for the purposes of the GSM program for a number of years, the introduction of Plans is intended to improve the targeting of this part of the program.
Plans are proposed to be agreements, in the form of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), between individual states and territories and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, which will allow jurisdictions to sponsor applicants under a broad range of occupations to fill skills shortages within their local labour markets. Plans are currently being developed for all states and territories, and are subject to the Minister’s approval prior to implementation.
Under Plans, state and territories are able to nominate only those applicants whose nominated occupation is included on their respective Plan. States and territories will however have some limited capacity to nominate applicants where their occupation is not specified on their Plan. These provisions allow states further flexibility in providing nominations which may be valuable in meeting shortages in very specialised occupations. The availability of this facility is entirely at the discretion of the state and territory government, and states and territories are not obliged to offer any nominations outside the occupations specified in their Plan.
State and territories will include information on the eligible occupations included in their Plans on their respective web-sites.
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