Highlights:
- The federal government will re-introduce a cap on student visa work hours as of 1 July.
- There are fears the cap will see a loss of workers and decrease in levels of care in the disability sector.
- The sector has called for an extension of unlimited work hours as has been granted to the aged care sector.
The federal government will re-introduce a cap on the number of hours people with student visas can work.
From 1 July, student visa holders will only be able to work 48 hours a fortnight - a slight increase from the pre-pandemic limit of 40 hours per fortnight.
During the pandemic, the working hour cap was scrapped to cater for labour shortages in Australia brought about by border closures.
Students could work unlimited hours as part of the COVID-19 Pandemic event (subclass 408) visa.
However, for those working in aged care, the unlimited hours provision will continue until 31 December, a six-month extension.
Now, student visa holders working in disability care are calling for the same extension.
One of the affected workers is Camilo Piedrahita. He is a doctor and while trying to validate his degree obtained in Colombia, he has been working for Only Care.
Mr Piedrahita works in support for the company which cares for people with disabilities, typically in their homes.
He says both he and his wife have student visas. Together, they have a nine-year-old son and Mr Piedrahita says he fears that the re-instated working hour cap will put him in a difficult position to pay for his family expenses and the cost of visas.
Camilo Piedrahita claims the level of care in the disability sector will suffer with the re-instatement of a cap on student visa working hours.
“We were part of the reduced workforce to help get through COVID. It's unfair that they (will) return us to 24 hours a week,” he adds.
He questions why students working in the disability care sector cannot receive a six-month extension to unlimited hours similar to what has been afforded those working in aged care.
The federal government announced the extension under the provisions of its new Aged Care Care Industry Labour Agreement, which aims to facilitate the hiring of qualified care workers from other countries in the sector.
We were part of the reduced workforce to help get through COVID. It's unfair that they (will) return us to 24 hours a week.Camilo Piedrahita
Marisol Suminski, Only Care's head of operations for disability support, told SBS Spanish that the government should have included disability care workers in the agreement.
“I am sure that care for the elderly needs a lot of workers, just like us, but the government should take into account that disability is also a very large area of our community, that we need those workers to help us continue to support and provide care at home to all those people,” Ms Suminski says.
Only Care employs almost 130 professionals who care for people with disabilities. According to data provided by the company, almost a third of these, around 40, are people with student visas.
Workers like Mr Piedrahita fear that, if they have to reduce their working hours, the people they serve will also be affected, since, as they explain, it takes time to train new professionals.
Only Care staff and client. Credit: Supplied
As a full-time worker, she visits patients in their homes from Monday to Saturday each week.
Ms Espinosa and her colleagues require specific training to learn how to move patients with apparatus, properly manage nutrition, correct posture or assist breathing.
She explains that gaining not only the trust of the patients but also their families took time.
“(For example) when it comes to bathing them. You don't want the person to feel exposed because they're naked or because you have to clean them after the toilet... all of those things have a big influence on building the trust of the client and the family members,” she says.
With the federal government's changes, she says her options for obtaining another work visa are complicated, especially after having accumulated several student visas. At 39 years old, she says she is still not sure what she will do when her current visa ends.
(Sophia Germer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP) Credit: Sophia Germer/AP
“Obviously the risk is huge, because a lot of people we have work with clients with high needs,” she says.
As an example, she says some of the company's clients are non-verbal and must use their eyes or limited hand gestures to explain what they need.
As detailed in the , (The National Disability Insurance Scheme), casual employment prevails in the disability sector, with 34 per cent of workers employed on an occasional basis.
Although casual labour in the NDIS has fallen slightly from its peak of 42 per cent at the end of 2018, it is still higher than in the aged care sector, which stands at 14 per cent.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said the government considered 48 hours a fortnight as an appropriate balance between work and study, acknowledging that study was the primary purpose of the Student Visa.
"Significant growth of the aged care workforce is needed to meet the demands of the Australian population," they said.
"Other sectors seeking temporary workers are able to access adequate labour supply through various migration programs."
When asked if the government would consider including support workers for people with disabilities in the exception of the limit of working hours, the spokesperson told SBS Spanish via email that “the Australian government recognises the important contribution that international students make to Australian society.”
Earl Schonberger, CEO of Only Care. Credit: Supplied
“The department has not properly considered the impact and the fact that segments of the disability sector will enter into crisis within four weeks, if they are forced to reduce the working hours of many student visa holders by almost 50 per cent," Mr Schonberger says.
We won't magically find other staff to fill all those service gaps.Earl Schonberger
“Workers in both the aged and disability sectors were rightly recognised as essential and critical, and workers in those sectors who were holders of student visas then and still are filling a shortage of critical care that Australian residents cannot cover, so I feel that excluding disability workers from this decision to continue the unlimited hours provision for another six months (as they have done for aged care workers) lacks consideration and planning”, Mr Schonberger adds.
