My economical posts whilst travelling today allowed you and a few others to jump to conclusions.
We currently employ about 90 staff and as I posted earlier, we have just one employed via a 457 visa. He is from Canada and has tertiary qualifications in our industry. In Australia there is only a mish mash of certificate courses for our technical staff. We employ him in a specialist part of our business. Hopefully he will apply for permanent residency, otherwise we may have to go 457 again. He is well paid and happy working for us.
Over the past 15 yrs or so we have probably employed and trained 200-300 local staff to work on our regional projects.
We have staff dedicated to training and quality.
I am giving anyone here with an open mind the benefit of my 35 yrs experience when I say soft skills matter. Take it or leave it.
