Western Australia bid to lure more than 30,000 key workers Down Under

2023-02-16

The Great Aussie jobs raid! Western Australia launches cheeky bid to lure more than 30,000 British doctors, nurses, police and teachers Down Under in a nod to the post-World War Two ‘Ten Pound Poms’ scheme

Australian delegation will visit the UK this month in bid to lure 31,000 workers
They are searching for doctors, officers and teachers among other professions
With UK public sector shortages, the audacious ad has been met with concern

Western Australia has launched an audacious bid to ‘steal’ 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers to work in the land Down Under.

In a nod to the ‘Ten Pound Poms’ scheme introduced after the Second World War, a delegation of government and industry officials will visit the UK later this month to lure workers away to fill more than 31,000 vacancies.

They are also on the hunt for miners, plumbers, mechanics and builders.

They promise hard-working Britons can ‘have it all’ and boast the UK’s energy bills – up to £2,600 this year – will cost almost half in Australia, with the savings spent on 183 pints of beer, 110 roast dinners or 500 jars of Marmite.

Police and defence industry minister Paul Papalia also highlighted Western Australia’s ‘wine regions’, ‘coral reefs’ and ‘culinary scene’. He said: ‘Our wages are higher and our cost of living is lower. Our health system is world class. You will be taken care of.

‘Many of our ancestors were sent from the UK to Australia as convicts. Now, it would be a crime not to make the move.’

Western Australia has launched an audacious bid to ‘steal’ 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers to work in the land Down Under

But with the UK public sector facing staff shortages, the plan has been met with concern.

Steve Brine MP, chairman of the Commons health and social care select committee, said: ‘Any country is obviously entitled to import health care workers – as we do in the UK from elsewhere – but there’s nothing to say our people have to go.’

Another committee member, Tory MP Paul Bristow, said the Australians’ choice of the word ‘steal’ was ‘unfortunate’, adding: ‘We need to demonstrate the benefits of working in the UK to help them stay.’

Steve Hartshorn, national chairman of the Police Federation, said: ‘We need every officer we have in this time of crisis.’

The NHS is battling shortfalls of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: ‘If ministers want to retain the best asset of the Health Service – the workforce – they need to talk pay now.’

The Department of Health said the majority of UK trained doctors and nurses, work in the NHS.

The delegation, arriving on February 25, will hold events and attend job fairs.

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