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FILIPINO
skilled workers bound for Australia have for the last
two years increased as demand for them remained strong.
“The
Philippines is now the strongest source of skilled
migration because of the structural skills shortages in
Australia and the skills abundance in the Philippines,”
said Australian ambassador to the Philippines Tony Hely,
who will be leaving the Philippines for a new
assignment.
He added
the number of Filipino skilled workers who went to work
in Australia last year increased by 136 percent compared
to 2006, but he did not provide specific figures for
comparison.
He said
Filipinos are highly in demand by various Australian
companies because of their broad knowledge of the
English language and they are known to be hardworking
and can easily adapt to different cultures.
Among
the workers welcome in Australia are welders,
carpenters, masons and other construction sector
workers.
Hely
also touched on the Australian priority development
projects in the Philippines that he said would focus on
promoting peace and development in
Mindanao. “Peace and development in
Mindanao
is still a work in progress. But we believe that the
Philippine government has done a good job in the
counterterrorism campaign in the country.”
Australia’s
development strategy unveiled last year noted the
continued threats to peace and security from Islamic
secessionism and the communist rebellion, describing
these as serious constraints to economic growth. It
added to these threats the presence of transnational
terrorists like the Jema’ah Islamiyah in Mindanao, thus
complicating the internal security challenges.
Canberra
has proposed a status of forces agreement with the
Philippines that would allow Philippine military and
police forces to undergo counterterrorism training with
the Australian military.
Hely
hopes the Philippine Senate would ratify the proposed
agreement within the year. |
