Australia Industry Group Chief Executive Innes Willox says plans to establish a purpose-built quarantine facility will allow businesses to address skills shortages across Australia.
The federal government announced on Friday it had agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the Victorian Government whereby the Commonwealth would contribute to building the facility while the state government was responsible for its operation.
With roughly 250,000 unfilled jobs across the nation, Mr Willox says the reintroduction of skilled migrants would help fill in gaps in the labour market.
“It’s the number one issue for business of all shapes and sizes no matter what they do, they just can’t get people with the right skills and it’s really starting to hurt now,” he told Sky News.
“That’s where the new quarantine facility could be useful because we could then be able, if it works, and it should, to start to bring people in to fill those skills gaps in a safe way.
“We need to start thinking more and more about how do we open up and get people moving and get people into the country safely.”