industry & reform
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the media at the end of the summit . Photo : NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman
A good start
ACN chief happy with Skills Summit , but says more needs to be done .
Kylie Ward interviewed by Elise Hartevelt
Nursing ’ s national voice has welcomed the migration cap ’ s expansion and support of work rights for international students from the recent National Jobs Summit , but says the work is far from finished .
ACN chief and adjunct professor Kylie Ward had hoped the summit would lead to investment into study and pay for enrolled and existing nurses .
“ We appreciate the government prioritising the skills shortage , but that ’ s nothing new ,” she says .
“ It ’ s only going to get worse globally and domestically unless we have discussions about the representation of the nursing profession .”
Nursing Review spoke with Ward about skilled overseas nurses finding work in rural Australia , HECS debts needing to be waived and whether the government will commit to a comprehensive migration scheme .
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NR : What was your response to the summit regarding raising the immigration cap to fill workforce shortages ? KW : I ’ m really pleased to see a new government , within their first month , addressing this skills gap . We ’ ve long championed the need for the government to address barriers preventing nurses who wish to call Australia home .
Nursing has been a passport around the world . Australian nurses have used their profession to travel long before women had rights that they have today , and nurses have for a long time come to Australia . So we see that this is something that the nursing profession has always experienced : it ’ s more of a global perspective of community , and skilled migration is essential for us to be able to deliver care .
We feel that this will help fill some needs gaps , maybe in rural , remote , and aged care , but for a longer term or more ethical or sustainable perspective , we should see ourselves as a nation that nurses would want to come to learn , perhaps live and get residency , or spend a few years investing in what we have to offer and then take that back home .
What issues did we see previously with skilled migrants working on a visa in rural areas ? Before the pandemic hit , the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization was predicting that there would be , by 2030 , a five to six , maybe seven million nursing workforce shortage worldwide . Now at this stage of the pandemic , they ’ re predicting that will be a 13 to 15 million nursing workforce shortage worldwide .
No country isn ’ t having workforce issues around nursing . I think that if we only see attracting people who were born or live overseas to come and work in Australia to fill the gaps , that is a concern for me , because what we should be thinking about is more inclusive language , considering diversity , integration into communities , how we would support people with housing , how we would support their families , and how they can build healthy communities , healthy economies , as well as supplement the workforce .
From the ACN ’ s perspective , skilled migration is absolutely key , it always has been , but it ’ s not the only answer . The pandemic and the closing of the borders did put pressure on Australia in ways that we ’ re feeling now in many health settings . I think that we need to think about our reputation as a nation and tackle any underlying racism and how we actually treat people that come from overseas , how we welcome them , and how we value them other than seeing them as filling our gaps , but also how they can enhance the communities .
The summit also resolved to improve access to TAFE training . We are hearing from international nurses that they ’ re not receiving letters , they ’ re getting short timeframes , and that the