Western Australia has launched a bold bid to ‘steal’ 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers to work on the land Down Under.
In a nod to the ‘Ten Pound Poms’ scheme introduced after World War Two, 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 working Brits can “have it all” and boast that UK energy bills (up to £2600 this year) will cost almost half as much in Australia, with the savings spent on 183 pints of ale, 110 roast dinners or 500 flasks. of Marmita.
Police Industry and Defense Minister Paul Papalia also highlighted Western Australia’s “wine regions”, “coral reefs” and “culinary scene”.
Western Australia has launched a bold bid to ‘steal’ 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers to work on the land Down Under.
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 healthcare system is world class. You will be taken care of.
‘Many of our ancestors were shipped from the UK to Australia as convicts. Now, it would be a crime not to take the step.
But with the UK public sector facing staff shortages, the plan has been greeted with concern.
Steve Brine MP, chairman of the Commons health and social care select committee, said: “Any country obviously has the right to import health workers, as we do in the UK from other places, but there is nothing to say that our people have to go.”
Another committee member, Conservative MP Paul Bristow, said 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 need to redouble our efforts to recruit new nurses, new doctors and demonstrate the benefits of a UK career.”
Steve Hartshorn, national president of the Police Federation, said: “We need every officer we have in this time of crisis.”
He added: “The impact of the departure of these experienced and trained officers will also affect the ability of those new to the service to learn and develop, and to provide the best possible service to the public.”
The Federation warned that as many as nine police officers a day are already submitting applications to transfer to a police force on the other side of the world.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the education select committee, Robin Walker MP, said the plan shows we are in ‘competition’ with the global marketplace.
He said: “Clearly we should be concerned about the loss of good trained teachers in the English system – the best way to address that is to make it attractive to stay.”
It comes as the British public sector faces severe staff shortages and crippling strikes.
The NHS is fighting 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, with the majority choosing Australia or New Zealand.
Professor Phil Banfield, chairman of the board of the British Medical Association, said the NHS is “dangerously exposed to these kinds of tactics from other countries at a time when doctors and healthcare staff are desperately in short supply around the world.” .
Nuffield Trust Senior Fellow Dr Billy Palmer said there was a “risk of it rising further” with 900 doctors moving 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 crippling strikes. Pictured: A nurse holds a banner as members of the Royal College of Nursing picket outside St Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster on February 6.
Steve Brine MP (pictured), chairman of the Commons health and social care select committee, said: “Any country obviously has the right to import health workers, as we in the UK do from elsewhere, but there is nothing to say that our people have to go’
Australia has a long history of immigrants from Europe, as well as the post-war scheme called Ten Pound Poms, where the British moved to the other side of the world, including these women who were staff members of an electricity company in Glasgow who have the sent there to start a new life at the firm’s counterpart factory near Adelaide in 1947
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘It is not surprising that NHS workers are tempted to gamble on another, better paying health service.
‘The UK government has allowed NHS workers’ wages to be delayed, which is a major factor in the health service’s record 133,000 vacancies and failure to meet performance standards.
“If ministers want to retain the health service’s best asset, the workforce, they must talk about pay now.”
The Department of Health said the majority of UK-trained doctors and nurses work in the NHS.
Arriving on February 25, the delegation will hold events and attend job fairs in London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Dublin in an attempt to sell the Australian way of life to British and Irish workers.
The new campaign focuses on lifestyle appeal, promising: “The culinary scene is world class, small bars abound, we’ve got pubs and live music and theater of all kinds.”
He even bragged that the UK-Australia trade deal coming into force this year will make it even easier for workers to move around.
