The Government of Australia intends to increase Skilled Migration to help meet labour shortages in Regional Australia and they will designate visa processing to regional Australia as the highest processing priority.
The DAMA is an Employer-Sponsored Labour Agreement visa program that individual workers cannot apply for independently as the employer must apply to the relevant ‘Designated Area Representative (DAR) to access the DAMA.
These are work agreements that enable approved employers to sponsor Skilled and Semi-Skilled overseas workers for positions they are unable to fill with local workers and in response to identified market shortages.
They are negotiated between the Department of Immigration and Employers or Industrial Associations. Other types of labour agreements also include: Company-Specific labour agreements, Project labour agreements, Global Talent Scheme (GST) agreements and Industry labour agreements.
They provide access to additional occupations and concessions to standard migration programs under the:
• Temporary Skill Shortage visa (Subclass 482)
• Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (Subclass 494)
• Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186)
The DAMA head agreement is negotiated between the Australian Government and a Designated Area Representative (DAR) (usually state or territory governments or regional bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, Regional Development Australia offices, or Shire Councils).
Once a DAMA is in place, local businesses can apply for endorsement and enter into individual labour agreements under the conditions of the relevant DAMA.
There are currently twelve active DAMA’s across Australia in;
• The Orana region DAMA (New South Wales) with 131 occupations available and skills and work experience, salary, English and permanent pathway concessions.
• The Northern Territory DAMA with 135 occupations available and English and salary concessions for some occupations.
• The Far North Queensland DAMA with 175 occupations available and English, skills, experience, salary and permanent residency (PR) pathway concessions.
• The Townsville Queensland DAMA with 195 occupations included in the list.
• The Adelaide City of Technology and Innovation Advancement DAMA (South Australia) with 56 occupations available and English, age, salary and permanent residency pathway concessions.
• The South Australian Regional Workforce DAMA with 320 occupations available and English, age, salary and permanent residency pathway concessions.
• The Goulburn Valley DAMA (Victoria) with 56 occupations available and Qualifications & Experience, TSMIT, English, PR Pathway and Age concessions.
• The Great South Coast DAMA (Victoria) with 114 occupations available and English, skills, experience, salary and permanent pathway concessions for some occupations.
• The East Kimberley Dama (Western Australia) with over 187 occupations available.
• The Goldfields DAMA (Western Australia) with 145 occupations available and English, salary and permanent pathway concessions.
• The Pilbara DAMA (Western Australia) covers 135 occupations.
• The South West Dardanup DAMA (Western Australia) with 56 occupations available and TSMIT, English, PR Pathway and Age concessions.