The Morrison government is exercising flexibility for temporary visa holders amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Australia’s major supermarkets are temporarily able to offer more hours to international student employees to help keep shelves stocked, the Department of Home Affairs on Friday(March 13) announced.
International students currently employed at the major supermarkets including Woolworths and Coles are able to extend their working hours to help meet high demand for essential items because of the coronavirus.
“We’ve allowed those international students to increase their work hours per week at those supermarkets, and the supermarkets can better cope with the demand,” Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge said.
“We've also said that they can do that for the aged care sector and there may be other sectors if they need that,” he said.
Meanwhile, there have been mounting concerns among backpackers on temporary visas, especially those who have a fast approaching visa expiry.
When asked whether they will be allowed to extend their working holidays if their home countries have closed borders due to the coronavirus outbreak, Mr Tudge said their situations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
“We have some flexibility in relation to those who are here on short term visas such as the backpackers, the working holiday makers, they should contact the immigration department if their visa is coming to a close soon and that they either can't return to their country or want to stay in Australia for longer,” Mr Tudge said.
“We are going to have some workforce shortages in some locations and so we'll be needing some of those people to assist us in our efforts, particularly for the working holiday makers, the backpackers who are often seen in the regional areas from picking the fruit to working on other industries in the regional areas.
“And so we will be wanting them still to assist in the effort, so we will have some flexibility there.”
SBS Radio Korean Program conducted an interview with Minister Alan Tudge about the evolving situation around COVID-19 in Australia.
[The Full interview is available on the podcast above]
