Living in Western Australia

Living in Western Australia

Western Australia - the ultimate lifestyle destination - offers white sandy beaches, minimal traffic congestion, with more sunny days than any other Australian state and an average yearly temperature of 28 degrees. Whether it's taking a relaxing weekend trip to the Swan Valley or longer trips to the remote regions, an adventurous 4WD tour, sand-dunes or swimming with the whale-sharks on the pristine Ningaloo reef, you're almost guaranteed there will be a blue sky overhead.

More than just an enviable climate and laid-back Aussie lifestyle, Perth offers one of the most buoyant markets in Australia and is the focal point for Resource & Mining, Energy, Oil & Gas and Construction projects. With financial investment of over $125bn on projects in 2010/11 our established business are seeing unlimited growth prospects.

WA offers its residents a unique and unparalleled way of life that is the envy of those who don't live here.

This amazing region offers:

• Relaxed and friendly lifestyle
• Strong sense of community evident in Kimberley towns
• Rich and diverse cultural heritage
• Rewarding work environments or work experiences
• Pristine environment with little or no pollution
• Fantastic recreational experiences on offer including camping, fishing and four-wheel driving

Perth

Perth is a cosmopolitan city of approx 2 million people that is renowned for its easy-going atmosphere and outdoors lifestyle. It offers all the conveniences of a modern capital city while retaining the friendly lifestyle, more often associated with a smaller town. The CBD sits on the banks of the Swan River and is just 15 minutes from world famous white-sand beaches. A 2 hour drive can see you spending the weekend in the world-famous Margaret River wine region, enjoying fine food, internationally-acclaimed wine and some of Australia's best surfing. Perth is a strikingly vibrant city that lies in Western Australia - the only place where you can dive with the world's largest fish - the whale shark, walk amongst the tree tops of ancient trees, sleep under a canopy of stars in the outback, or explore the gorges and wilderness areas.

JobContax currently has a number of Construction and Engineering opportunities based in Western Australia. All jobs come with employer approved 457 visas.

Click the following link to check out the positions:

Jobs in Australia

Gorgon Project Jobs

457 Visa Australia

457 Visa

Working with both individuals and corporate clients, JobContax has extensive experience dealing with the 457 visa. Our Australian partners are able to use their local knowlegde, offering fast and friendly services tailored specifically to your needs. Relocation is a big step and is important to get right first time, every time. You need expert advice and support throughout your case - from applying for the 457 visa to employer sponsorship requirements. JobContax can do it all. The Subclass 457 Visa program allows employers to sponsor overseas workers, enabling them to work in Australia on a temporary basis. It is designed for people who initially wish to work for up to 4 years in Australia. The visa is the most commonly used program for employers to sponsor overseas workers in Australia. This program allows applicants to work for up to four years for a sponsoring employer and is restricted to people seeking to be employed in skilled occupations.

Duration

The Subclass 457 visa allows for individuals to work in Australia for a period of between one day and four years. This is one of the more flexible types of Australia visas.

Eligibility

Employers
An employer must be approved as an eligible sponsor before an Australian 457 visa is granted. To achieve approval, an employer must meet a range of criteria set by the Australian Government. Requirements include a demonstrated commitment to employing local labour and a commitment to the training of Australian citizens and permanent residents.

Employees
Employees must be sponsored by an eligible employer to fill a nominated position. A full listing of eligible nominated occupations can be found in the Employer Nomination Scheme List. Employees must have skills, qualifications, experience and an employment background which match those required for the position, as well as demonstrated English language proficiency. Certain character and health requirements must also be met.

Applying for a 457 visa

There are three stages in the processing of the 457 visa: sponsorship, nomination and visa application.

Before individuals can apply for a 457 visa, they must first ensure the sponsoring employer is an approved sponsor. All of JobContax's Australian partners are approved ECPM contarctors.

Employers must submit an application to be a sponsor and are required to meet all eligibility requirements.

The employer must then nominate the position to be filled, along with details of the skills required for the position, the rate of pay and the name of the prospective overseas employee.

The employee then applies for a visa to work in Australia. To lodge a visa application the sponsorship and nomination must have been lodged with or prior to the visa application.

JobContax have helped numerous numerous construction and engineering professionals through the process. Once the employer decides to sponsor someone, the process only takes a couple of months.

Be sure to check out JobContax's current Australian 457 visa approved jobs.

What is an Australian 457 Visa?

All JobContax Jobs come with Australian 457 Visas

All jobs in Australia on www.JobContax.com come with 457 visa attached.  Due to the shortage of experienced skilled Construction and Engineering professionals in Australia, suitable foreign national are being offered 4 year working visas (457) by employers. The 457 visa entitles the bearer and their family to live and work in Australia.

The 457 visa is the most commonly used program for Australian or overseas employers to sponsor skilled overseas workers to work in Australia temporarily. The full title of this subclass of visa isTemporary Business (Long Stay) - Standard Business Sponsorship (Subclass 457).

Requirements

Employers must be approved by the Australian government as an eligible employer. Employees must obtain a new visa and sponsorship if they wish to move to another sponsor.Holders of this visa may be employed for a period of between one day and four years and may bring any eligible family members, including same-sex partners, who have unrestricted work and study rights in Australia. Holders of the Subclass 457 visa have no limit on the number of times they travel in and out of Australia.

Employees must also meet minimum levels of qualifications and English language skills, in addition to character and health requirements. Whilst the employer can nominate a person for the particular position they are trying to fill, it is the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that assess and determine whether the criteria for visa grant have been met.

Conversion to permanent residency

457 visa holders can convert to Australian permanent residency status. It is common for 457 visa holders to apply for a permanent Australia residents visa with a view to permanently settle in Australia and become Australian citizens. There has been a recent increase in the number of grants of permanent residence visas to people who last held a Subclass 457 visa.  However there is Australian parliamentary concern regarding overseas agents falsely marketing permanent residency to Australia.

 

Chevron's Wheatstone LNG project to generate 6500 jobs

CHEVRON'S planned $30 billion Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project is expected to begin within months after the West Australian Environmental Protection Authority approved the development today. But the EPA recommended the US energy giant take significant measures to reduce the unusually high level of carbon emissions from the project, which is to be built near Onslow in WA’s Pilbara region.

Emissions from the project would increase Australia’s greenhouse-gas emission levels by 1.7 per cent, over 2006-07 readings, and WA’s levels by 13.5 per cent. The project would emit 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. The EPA’s report will be sent to WA Environment Minister Bill Marmion for final approval. Approval is also required from federal Environment Minister Tony Burke. “The EPA has assessed the proposal for the Wheatstone development and believes that the proposal can be implemented with appropriate management to limit environmental impacts to an acceptable level,” the EPA report said.

 Chevron’s Australian operations head, Roy Krzywosinski, said last month that work on Wheatstone should begin before the end of the year; the project will generate 6500 direct jobs at peak construction and $21bn in government revenue. Mr Krzywosinski said the project was entering the "final stages" of approvals and would follow the company’s $43bn Gorgon LNG project being built on Barrow Island. "The Wheatstone project, the younger sibling, which seems to live in the shadow of Gorgon, will soon be stepping out into the light as a major capital project in its own right," he said.

The EPA recommended today that Chevron put in place a greenhouse-gas abatement program and offset the emissions of carbon dioxide from Wheatstone. Chevron’s proposed lack of greenhouse-gas mitigation measures were deemed unacceptable by the Conservation Council of WA and the Wilderness Society considered, the report said. The EPA said that if commonwealth legislation on reducing carbon emissions came into force, Chevron may not need to implement an abatement program.

The first phase of the Wheatstone project will have a combined capacity of 8.9mt per annum and first LNG shipments are planned for 2016.

Queensland: skilled worker shortage

The head of Queensland’s leading industry body says choosy workers are making will make it difficult to fill the skills gaps in the state. In the next year, 30000 workers will be needed in the Bowen Basin, and Queensland Resources Council chief executive said he was shocked to discover 2500 unfilled places exist in the minerals and resources sector alone.
“At the moment the workforce is being very choosy, you really have to move heaven and earth to make it attractive for them because they do have alternatives, particularly the younger generation,” he told The Daily Mercury.
"They are very mobile, they can get on a plane and fly to Mackay or Moranbah or they can maybe stay on the plane an extra couple of hours and fly to Western Australia, and I'm hearing for some of those jobs there is a premium to be paid.”

He said the mining boom will be held back by the skills shortage, despite initiatives to expand the industry.
“The fundamentals are excellent and it has to be good news for Bowen Basin communities and places like Mackay.
"The number one constraint of being able to realise that potential is the skills issue.”
The QRC boss has welcomed the moves by the Gillard Government to find a balance between training locals and allowing skilled migrants into Australia to fill the vacancies.
“We were pleased with the Federal Budget initiatives,” he said.
"A sensible balance between training up the local workforce, accelerating apprenticeships, more money for training and some easing up on facilitation of being able to bring in migrant labour, particularly for those really big projects.
“Hopefully the people of the Mackay region will understand that with projects there is a construction phase with a very high peak workforce and then there are the ongoing jobs.
“My vision is that we make sensible use of, for the short term construction phases, let's use migrant labour sensibly to fill gaps there and let's maximise then the permanent on-going jobs for locals, that is the happy mix and that is what we are aiming for,” Mr Roche said.

In the recent federal budget, treasurer Wayne Swan announced funding to speed up the completing apprenticeships and gaining qualifications. Education Queensland Trade Training Centre project officer Bob Baker told The Mercury offers of big money and ease of entering the resources sectors in other regions were taking young people away from the Bowen Basin and towards south-east and Western Australia.
“At the moment a lot of young people are actually going elsewhere for training as well and then are finding other opportunities in other places.,” he said.
“If they train elsewhere then the transition becomes very easy then for them to move to wherever the biggest money is.
“If we can have the opportunities here for them in Mackay, then they will stay here.
“As a region we are competing with the south-east corner and other major areas of interest like Western Australia, where there is more action, more services, and more resources for families.”
Baker said there needs to be more focus on developing Mackay’s tourism and infrastructure.
http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/choosy-workers-damaging-resouce-sector--qrc-boss

QLD and WA collaborate to solve mining skills shortage

As the skills shortage in the resource industry continues to worsen, peak industry groups in Western Australia and Queensland have joined with a national industry skills council to address the issue. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia (CME), Queensland Resources Council (QRC) and SkillsDMC have joined forces to create strategies to sources the huge number of workers needed over the next five to 10 years.

In Western Australia alone, 33 000 workers will be needed in the next year, and 30 000 will be required in the next six years at the Bowen Basin.As part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed to by the industry groups, an objective of the three year agreement will be the development of skills initiatives to be implemented.

Projects under the MoU will include:

• Defining and implementing a national skills policy for the mining sector


• Providing timely workforce planning data to support skills advocacy functions with state and federal governments


• Knowledge transfer for local and state operational outcomes


• Brokering funds to support commonly agreed objectives


• Enhanced consultation and consistency on skills-related submissions


• Establishing lead agencies for projects and issues to maximise the strengths and opportunities provided by the MoU partners

QME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said Queensland and Western Australia are up against very similar problems in their skills shortage.
‘Our ability to source skilled labour will prove vital in the delivery of projects on time and on budget,’ he said.
‘Our ability to source skilled labour will prove vital in the delivery of projects on time and on budget,’ Mr Howard-Smith said.
‘Where there is mutual benefit, this new, non-binding collaboration, allows the partners to work towards securing policy and initiatives that will underpin national prosperity for decades to come.’

QRC chief executive Michael Roche has echoed Howard-Smith’s comments and says the partnership will make it possible to tackle the problems in the mining sectors in both states.
“The MoU comes at a crucial moment in time to work towards ensuring the development and long-term sustainability of the resources sector in Queensland and Australia,” Roche said
“In the wake of a record $31 billion of new investment recently committed in Queensland alone by LNG developers, it is imperative we band together in order to meet the sector’s increasing workforce needs to support this unprecedented growth.

“No single state can resolve the skills issues we face on its own.’
The chief executive of SkillsDMC, Steve McDonald said planning for the future is the key to solving the issues.
“The enterprises with which we work understand the importance of continual upskilling and training and understand the need to plan for the prosperity of the industry, to ensure that even more critical skills gaps are avoided in the future.
“Industry must position itself to minimise the impact of a retiring workforce, and one that is not currently upskilled to levels that are crucial to industry productivity.
“It is the goal of this collaborative partnership to find solutions to these issues.’

Following the announcement of the federal budget by Treasurer Wayne Swan last week, employers in the resource in industry are urging the Federal Government to ignore demands from political groups and unions opposed to increasing the level of skilled migration. The Government’s announcement on Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMA’s) was welcomed by resource industry employer AMMA. The budget will see an increase in workers as it lifts the level of skilled labour imports and gives companies incentives through a $558 million employment fund.

The National Workforce Development Fund, launched today, is designed to create 130,000 new training places over the next four years.A new enterprise migration agreement for large mining projects in return for a financial contribution to train Australians will be implemented, with the aim of allowing 16,000 skilled immigrants to enter the country to work in some key regions where there is a labour shortage.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/qld-and-wa-collaborate-to-solve-mining-skills-shor

Western Australia: 33,000 workers needed by 2012

The skills shortage across resource and construction industries is continuing to worsen, with Western Australia alone needing to fund an extra 33 000 skilled workers by the end of 2012. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy have compiled a report on the growth outlook for the state, which found that if the positions aren’t filled, it could have dire consequences for projects in terms of budget and timeframes and may ruin Western Australia’s reputation as a competitive mining market.

The West Australian is reporting that the 10-year forecast of labour and infrastructure report, to be released today, shows an extra 34 000 skilled workers need to be employed in resource projects in the Pilbara alone and says direct employment in the sector will soon pass 120 000 across WA, making up 10 per cent of the state’s workforce. The shortage is expected to be most dire when projects including Gorgon, Pluto and BHP Billiotn’s Pilbara expansion reach their peaks and.

As many as 90 per cent of the workforce will be employed on fly-in., fly-out contracts, which is sure to further add to the already hot debate about FIFO work.About 85 per cent of the additional FIFO workers will be based in Perth or Peel and the remainder interstate.Most of the positions will need to be made up from foreign workers, as nearly all WA residents are already employed.

In January, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced pthe government is considering assisting 20 000 skilled migrants to enter Australia and the rates of Irish relocating here is at record levels."Our ability to address these significant labour issues will impact directly on the ability to deliver these projects on time and on budget," CME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith tole The West Australian yesterday. He went on to say the ability for companies to meet deadlines impacts on its reputation and future investment. Earlier this month an online forum was unveiled to allow for discussion about the skills shortage and attempt to fimd solutions.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/33-000-workers-needed-in-wa-by-next-year

Australia's Mining Boom

China is leasing huge tracts of land in Australia to secure a vital source of iron ore and coal, in the latest sign of its formidable hunger for commodities to fuel its economic boom. No longer satisfied with purchasing iron ore and coal from Australia's giant mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, China is developing its own mining operations and has funded a port with a 2km long breakwater that juts out into the Indian Ocean. The Citic-Pacific Corporation's Sino Iron project in the Pilbara region in the far north-west of Australia illustrates the scale of Beijing's ambition. The open-cast mine - which will become fully operational later this year - promises to be the biggest magnetite iron ore mine in the world.

State-of-the-art hydraulic excavators will dig down some 200m below sea level. The ore will be crushed in a processing plant powered by an on-site 450MW power station. The iron ore concentrate will reach China on a fleet of purpose-built container ships. China expects to receive at least two billion tons of iron ore from Sino Iron over the next 25 years.

'Aussie oligarch'
In return Australia, already China's biggest overseas supplier of iron ore, is guaranteed a steady stream of royalties and taxes. And the project will generate thousands of Australian jobs - China contributes the finance and the management, not the labour. Mr Palmer regularly commutes between Australia and Beijing by private jet. But the deal's biggest winner will be Clive Palmer, the larger-than-life entrepreneur who holds the lease on the Sino Iron mine. His partnership with Citic-Pacific is one big reason why he's now close to the top of Australia's rich-list. According to Mr Palmer his mining alliance with the Chinese has barely begun.He claims to control the mining rights to territory which contains 160 billion tonnes of iron ore. It's a mind-boggling figure - 100 times greater than the entire global output of iron ore last year.

If China's steel mills maintain their current level of demand Mr Palmer is set to become an Aussie oligarch to rival Russia's richest resource billionaires. A suggestion to which he responds with a smile. "I hope I'm nicer," he says. Mr Palmer regularly commutes between Australia and his other home in Beijing by private jet. He boasts of friendships at the highest levels of the Chinese government. Chinese banks seem to trust him. Last year China's Import-Export Bank made available a $5bn (£3bn) loan to finance a Palmer-backed Queensland coal project which is supposed to deliver the Chinese power industry close to a billion tonnes of coal over the next 30 years.

'Hijacked'
But China's emergence as a significant long-term player in the Australian resource sector has raised hackles. After Rio Tinto came close to accepting a major investment from the Chinese metals giant Chinalco, Barnaby Joyce, Senate leader of the opposition National Party, railed against "Australia's prime sources of wealth being hijacked by a foreign government". Clive Palmer, himself one of the biggest financial supporters of the conservative opposition, dismisses such talk. "China is the only country willing and able to invest the billions needed to develop these projects," he said. "Three hundred million people are moving from the countryside to the cities. The demand is in the People's Republic of China."

But there are good economic reasons for Australians to worry about the long-term impact of the China-driven commodity boom. The windfall from Australia's minerals exports has strengthened the Australian dollar to a point where manufacturing bosses say their exports are becoming uncompetitive. In Perth, Australia's mining capital, there are signs of a bubble economy. Restaurants and farms are struggling to find labour as unskilled workers flock to the mines, where the average annual wage is $108,000 (£69,000). A truck driver in the mines can earn more than a surgeon.

China's thirst for Australian resources also serves to underline an environmental problem facing the Labor government. Prime Minister Julia Gillard is committed to the imposition of a carbon tax and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions - goals that sit uneasily with the continued dramatic expansion of the energy-intensive mining sector.

Sacred places
Beijing seems to be increasingly aware of the need to tread carefully. Sinosteel, another state-owned metals conglomerate, has plans to develop a massive open-cast iron ore mine in the Weld Range, a ridge of low-slung hills some 400 miles north-east of Perth. The geologists believe it will yield up to 300 million tonnes of high grade iron ore over 20 years. But it is a sensitive project. The red-tinged rock is not just rich in iron oxide - it is also littered with archaeological evidence of thousands of years of aboriginal life.

Colin Hamlet, an elder of the Wajarri Yamatji people, is at the forefront of a campaign to prevent Sinosteel digging up his ancestors' sacred places. His own great-grandmother Booreeangoo was buried at a site which Sinosteel surveyors designated as a dump for mine tailings. The plan has since been changed. "This land tells the story of my people, our song lines, our camps, our relics, they're all here," he told me. Perhaps aware of the potential for damaging publicity, Sinosteel's top Chinese executive has personally assured Mr Hamlet that sites of special significance to the Wajarri Yamatji will remain untouched. Too of his list is an unremarkable hill known as Wilgie Mia. Close to the summit is a gash in the rock - it's the opening to a man-made hole more than 100ft deep. "This is where we get our ochre from," said Mr Hamlet. "You see it in paintings hundreds of miles from here." According to archaeologists Wilgie Mia could be the oldest continuously worked mine in the world. Proof that for 10,000 years indigenous Australians have been digging holes in search of mineral riches.

And now the Chinese have arrived on a similar quest.

Courtesy of: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9451824.stm

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40,000 workers needed in WA over the next two years

Western Australia will need 40,000 more workers over the next two years to cope with demand from major resource industry projects, including the Gorgon,Browse and Wheatstone Projects.

With mega operations such as Chevron's $43 billion dollar Gorgon LNG project and Woodside's Pluto in the pipeline - the demand for workers on the ground has never been so strong. But demand in the boardroom is rising just as fast. In recent years, mining giants Fortescue, Rio Tinto, BHP and Chevron have all expanded their offices in Perth substantially and companies in other industries are travelling to where the money is.

Consulting firms such as Bane and McKinsey have also opened up shop out West, as well as several global law firms who are establishing teams to cope with demand from major clients. Alastair Haldane from recruitment services firm Interpeople says the available pool of talent is quickly drying up. 'The war for talented, white collar professionals is out there on the streets. We see it every day'. Mr. Haldane says while many workers would put a better salary at the top of their list of reasons for changing companies, businesses make the mistake of assuming a high wage is all they need to offer to retain staff. According to Interpeople, workers are more likely to blame poor management or culture for their decision to leave a job, than low wages.

Meantime, The 2011 March quarter Clarius Skills Index, yesterday, rose to 100.3 index points, just above the 100 mark that indicate a balanced labour market.

The index was 99.9 in the December quarter, showing a marginal oversupply. The index showed demand for skilled labour rose by 64,000 in the March quarter, while supply increased by 51,400. The report said skills shortages were most noticeable in the construction, building and engineering categories. Clarius chief operating officer Kym Quick said post-disaster reconstruction, combined with the resources boom and major information technology (IT) projects were putting a strain on the availability of skills. 'This is shaping as a major national issue,' Ms Quick said in a statement.

'Western Australia's boom economy continues draw a range of skills. The impact of the floods, and cyclone in Queensland, has not fully translated into major shifts in labour demand or supply but they are now starting to emerge.

http://www.skynews.com.au/businessnews/article.aspx?id=603094&vId=2341226&cId=Business

Gorgon, Browse and Wheatstone Projects require Construction Workers and Engineers

Australia will need to import workers if it wants to take full advantage of its abundant natural resources, the nation's largest private construction company says. Daniel Grollo, chief executive of Grocon Group, wants the federal government to start planning for the massive skills shortage the country faces as private investment in infrastructure and construction recovers from the global financial crisis. Huge gas developments off the northwest coast of Australia alone require a more mobile workforce and more skilled migrants, he says.

JobContax will be recruiting experienced civils professionals for numerous large LNG Projects in Western Australia, on an ongoing basis.

US energy giant Chevron is using thousands of workers to construct the A$43 billion (US$42.49 billion) Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia. Also in WA, Chevron is planning its Wheatstone LNG project, while Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) aims to expand its Pluto LNG project, construction of which is nearing completion.

"I think we've got a really, really big challenge up in the northwest. You've got to see this to believe it," Mr Grollo told an Australia-Israeli Chamber of Commerce lunch in Sydney on Tuesday. "We've heard a lot about Gorgon, and the reality is another two or three projects of the same scale are coming in the very near future. "Australia just does not have the mobility in its workforce to go and solve that issue. "If we want Australia to be a prosperous country, if we want to take advantage of the natural resources we have, if we want to participate in the growth of China in the resources sector, then we're going to have to do something about people, and that's going to need a lot of foreign workers."

Courtesy of:  http://www.downstreamtoday.com/news/article.aspx?a_id=24935