To tackle the growing unemployment in the country, Australia abolished a visa programme known as ‘457 visa’.
This programme allowed business to employ foreign workers for a period up to four years in skilled jobs where there is a shortage of Australian workers.
The majority of the visa holders were from India followed by the UK and China.
Australia will adopt a new ‘Australians first’ approach to skilled migration.
The programme will be replaced by another visa programme, with new restrictions.
The new programme will ensure that foreign workers are brought into Australia in order to fill critical skill gaps and not brought in because an employer finds it easier to recruit a foreign worker than go to the trouble of hiring an Australian.