Former Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson has delivered a scathing assessment of Australia's immigration system, saying the country systematically wastes the talents of skilled migrants through credential barriers and discrimination - even as skills shortages persist across key sectors.
Parkinson, one of Australia's most senior economic mandarins, told the ABC that the country is squandering migrant talent "on an industrial scale." His critique breaks ranks with the usual diplomatic language around immigration, bluntly naming a problem that costs the economy billions while leaving skilled professionals underemployed.
The issue is familiar to anyone who's met an engineer driving an Uber or a doctor working retail. Australia actively recruits skilled migrants - spending resources to attract people with qualifications the country needs - then erects barriers that prevent them from actually using those skills.
Credential recognition is the primary obstacle. Medical degrees from certain countries aren't recognized, forcing doctors to spend years re-qualifying. Engineering credentials require expensive and time-consuming assessments. Professional bodies in fields from accounting to architecture maintain high barriers to entry, ostensibly for quality control but with the effect of protecting incumbent professionals from competition.
The economic cost is massive. Parkinson noted that when skilled migrants can't work in their fields, the economy loses their productivity while they're underemployed in lower-skilled work. It also means genuine skills shortages persist - Australia simultaneously claims to need more engineers while preventing qualified engineers from working.
Social media commenters shared stories of the migrant experience. "My wife has a PhD in chemistry from India, spent two years working at Woolworths because nobody would recognize her degree," one user wrote. Another noted the irony: "We complain about skills shortages then make skilled migrants jump through years of hoops to actually work here."
