Clare O'Neil boosts skilled migrant ceiling to 195,000, moves to 'migrant permanency'

On Friday, the federal government unveiled an increase in planned migration following calls from industry, which said severe labour shortages were constraining economic productivity.

Groups such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have called for the cap to be increased for multiple years while normal migration bounces back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Skilled migration became the centre of the second day of the jobs and skills summit, with the commonwealth also revealing 500 additional staff members would be employed to deal with the backlog of visa applications, at a cost of $36.1 million.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the government would lift the number of migration spots would by 35,000 to 195,000 for the 2022-23 year.

"There isn't anything in this room that has universal support, but an area where almost everyone agrees, is that we need to lift the permanent migration numbers for this year," she said.

"I want to emphasise that one of Labor's priorities in immigration is moving away from the focus on short-term migration, to permanency, and citizenship and nation building."

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State and territory-sponsored visas would also increase from 11,000 to 31,000.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also doubled down on the country's need to move towards higher permanent migration.

"We can't just have this over-reliance on temporary labour and there are so many professions, whether it's nursing, whether it's engineers, whether it's chefs, where we've had skill shortages for a long period of time," Mr Albanese said.

"It makes no sense to bring people in, have them for a few years then get a new cohort to adapt to the Australian work environment."

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott and Woolworths boss Brad Banducci noted firms would welcome higher overseas workers caps.

Ms O'Neil said it was important Nationals leader David Littleproud had attended the summit given the challenges in the regions.

"I note David Littleproud is here - David, this will be important for the regions," she said.

"We've made that decision based on the discussions we have had and the urging of the people in this room.

"That is your voice being reflected in government decision-making."

Mr Littleproud, who is the only member of the opposition in attendance, said he was there to be constructive and to work together to find a solution.

"We've had enough of people just coming [to the regions], picking crops or being part of the processing sector, and just coming and going," he said.

"We want them to live in regional Australia.

"I think if we do this together, we can solve this together and regional Australia, let me tell you, will be part of that solution."

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government would boost staff numbers by 500 to speed up processing and clear the growing visa backlog.

"The backlog will be cleared, waiting times will continue to come down," Mr Giles said.

"We will address this crisis while looking to position Australia to realise our potential as a reconciled nation that harnesses the great strength that is our diversity.

"This is the beginning, not the end."

The federal government has been facing increasing pressure to solve the growing visa backlog, which is tipped to soon surpass a million, since the May election.

More than 350,000 visa applications were lodged in February and March this year alone, representing a significant jump compared with the previous calendar year.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month said while additional staff had been brought in to deal with the large backlog, more needed to be done.

"It's a hopeless situation that we inherited. We have put considerable resources into additional staff to get these visas processed," he told Sydney radio 2GB last month.

"How frustrating is it that there are people who want to come here who've been waiting in the queue, some for more than a year, but their visa can't be processed?"