Western Australia has launched an audacious bid to “steal” 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers to work in Australia.
In a nod to the ‘Ten Poms’ scheme introduced after the Second World War, a delegation of government and industry officials will visit the UK later this month to attract workers to fill more than 31,000 vacancies.
They are also on the hunt for miners, plumbers, mechanics and builders.
They promise British workers can “have it all” and boast that UK energy bills (up to £2,600 this year) will cost almost half as much in Australia, with the savings spent on 183 pints of beer, 110 roasts or 500 jars of Marmite.
Police and Defense Industry Minister Paul Papalia also highlighted Western Australia’s “wine regions”, “coral reefs” and “culinary scene”.
Western Australia has launched an audacious bid to “steal” 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers to work on Australian soil.
Police and Defense Industry Minister Paul Papalia (pictured with Rafael Nadal, left, in 2020) highlighted Western Australia’s “wine regions”, “coral reefs” and “culinary scene”.
He said: ‘Our salaries 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 take the step.
But as the UK public sector faces staff shortages, the plan has raised concerns.
Steve Brine MP, chairman of the House of Commons health and social care select committee, said: “Any country obviously has the right to import healthcare workers – as we do in the UK from elsewhere – but there is nothing to say that our people have to leave.”
Another committee member, Conservative 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.” .
“This shows that we must redouble our efforts to recruit new nurses and doctors and demonstrate the benefits that a career in the UK offers.”
Steve Hartshorn, national president of the Police Federation, said: “We need every officer we have at this time of crisis.”
He added: “The impact of the departure of these experienced and trained officers will also impact the ability of those newer to the service to learn and develop, and to provide the best possible service to the public.”
The Federation warned that up to nine police officers a day already submit transfer requests to a police force on the other side of the world.
Meanwhile, education select committee chair Robin Walker MP said the plan shows we are in “competition” with the global market.
He said: “Clearly we should be concerned about the loss of good trained teachers to the English system – the best way to address this is by making it attractive to stay.”
It comes as Britain’s public sector faces severe staff shortages and devastating strikes.
The NHS is battling a shortage of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.
The British Medical Association revealed before Christmas that a third of young doctors plan to leave the UK and that the majority will choose Australia or New Zealand.
Professor Phil Banfield, chair of the council of the British Medical Association, said the NHS is “dangerously exposed to these types of tactics from other countries at a time when doctors and healthcare staff are in desperate short supply around the world”.
Dr Billy Palmer, senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said there is a “risk of it ballooning further” with 900 doctors set to move to Australia to practice in May 2022 alone.
The NHS is battling a shortage of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives amid devastating strikes. Pictured: A nurse holds a banner as a member of the Royal College of Nursing picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster on February 6.
Steve Brine MP (pictured), chairman of the House of Commons health and social care select committee, said: “Any country obviously has the right to import healthcare workers – as we do in the UK from elsewhere – but There’s nothing that says our people have to do it.” go’
Australia has a long history of immigrants from Europe, as well as the post-war scheme called Ten Pound Poms where British people moved to the other side of the world, including these women who were members of staff at an electrical company in Glasgow that sent them there to begin a new life at the company’s counterpart factory near Adelaide in 1947.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘It’s no wonder NHS workers are tempted to opt for another health service that pays better.
‘The UK Government has allowed NHS workers’ wages to fall behind, which is a huge factor in the record 133,000 vacancies in the health service and failure to meet performance standards.
“If ministers want to retain the health service’s best asset – the workforce – they need to talk about pay now.”
The Department of Health said the majority of the UK’s trained doctors and nurses work in the NHS.
Come February 25, the delegation will host events and attend job fairs in London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Dublin in a bid to sell the Australian lifestyle to workers in the UK and Ireland.
The new campaign focuses on lifestyle appeal, promising: “The culinary scene is world-class, small bars are plentiful, we have pubs and live music and theater of all kinds.”
He even boasted that the UK-Australia trade deal coming into force this year will make it even easier for workers to move.