Curtin Heritage Living was the first aged care provider to enter into an Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement (ACILA) back in May 2023, shorty after the program was introduced.
A year later, the Not For Profit Perth aged care provider has granted 17 staff permanent residency under the program, which allows it to recruit up to 570 workers over five years.
Curtin Heritage Living has not brought in overseas staff under the program, but the ACILAs are a tool to retain and attract migrant staff - around half of the provider's 330 staff, who are mainly female and in their mid-to-late 30s, are on temporary visas.
"People having a pathway to residency has provided individuals and their families with hope for a secure future in this country," a spokesperson for Curtin Heritage Living told The SOURCE.
"The impact on their lives now that can settle and plan for a future cannot be underestimated."
After a "bumpy" start, Curtin Heritage Living's engagement with the United Workers Union (UWU), the union they negotiated their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with as required under ACILAs, is now operating more smoothly. A representative from the UWU attends staff orientation sessions, when new staff begin, with the aim of educating them about their organisation and the services they offer.
Last week, Karin Maier, Acting First Assistant Secretary, Immigration Programs, Home Affairs, told the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee that as of 26 April 2024 there were 66 Aged Care Industry Labour Agreements in place and 954 visa applications lodged.
She estimated that visa applications lodged under the Agreements are "usually" turned around in "under a week".
The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles told Parliament last week that under the ACILAs struck, there is the potential to sponsor up to 22,000 workers over the next five years.
