How a national alliance, a federal budget win, and stories like Consuelo’s are reshaping skills recognition in Australia. The Push to Activate Migrant Skills Is Working and is having a meaningful impact across the country.
For too long, Australia has been wasting the very talent it spent decades attracting. Doctors driving rideshare, teachers stacking shelves, engineers waiting years for paperwork. The Activate Australia’s Skills campaign set out to fix that. After months of advocacy, the 2026 to 2027 Federal Budget has delivered the first real win.
At UMA College, we work every day with students from migrant and refugee backgrounds who are rebuilding their careers in Australia. We see firsthand the cost of a skills recognition system that is slow, expensive, and confusing. That is why we welcome the momentum behind this campaign. It is also why we are sharing the story of what has been achieved, and what still needs to change.
🧩 The Problem: A Recognition Gap, Not a Skills Gap
Australia is facing a structural workforce shortage. At the same time, skilled migrants already living here are locked out of their professions by costly, fragmented, and outdated recognition processes.
📊 44% of skilled migrants in Australia are working below their skill level.
👩💼 Migrant women are 20% more likely than migrant men to work below their qualifications.
💰 The estimated cost to the Australian economy is around $70 billion every year in lost productivity.
🏫 Around 80% of Australian schools report needing more teachers, yet thousands of qualified educators sit idle.
As campaign organisers have pointed out, this is not a skills gap. It is a recognition gap. The talent is already here.
🎙️ National Press Club: Putting Skills Recognition on the Agenda
On 1 April, the National Press Club hosted Dr Martin Parkinson AC PSM and Violet Roumeliotis AM (CEO of Settlement Services International) for an address titled “The productivity boost we’re missing: Activating Australia’s skills.” Their argument was direct: skills recognition reform is one of the cheapest, fastest productivity levers available to the country.
They linked the issue to stagflation, workforce shortages in health and education, hospital waiting lists, and the broader migration system. The address was covered by the ABC, ABC RN, the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, and The Conversation. This coverage pulled skills recognition firmly into the national conversation.
| “Skills recognition is not a bureaucratic side issue. It is one of the highest-return reforms available to lift Australia’s productivity and ease pressure on critical workforces.” – Themes raised at the National Press Club address, 1 April 2026 |
👩🎓 Activate Her Skills: The Gendered Cost of the Recognition Gap
On 28 April, SSI and the Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance released Activate Her Skills, a report that put numbers to a problem many women already knew. More than
👥 340,000 migrant and refugee women in Australia are working below their skill level.
⚖️ The report documents gendered barriers in recognition processes, from caring responsibilities to language testing rules that disadvantage women.
🗣️ It calls for fairer, simpler, and lower cost pathways for women rebuilding professional careers.
Promisingly, the Minister for Finance and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, spoke at the launch and committed to taking the report’s recommendations to the cabinet table. Meanwhile, coverage from SBS World News and Women’s Agenda kept the message in front of policymakers in the weeks leading into the federal budget.
🍎 The Teacher Crisis: 20,000 Educators Frozen Out
On 7 May, News Corp papers ran the story “Waste of talent: 20,000 teachers frozen out of a job they love.” It featured Consuelo, a master’s qualified teacher from Chile with seven years of classroom experience. She has been held back by slow and confusing recognition pathways.
Consuelo’s reflection was striking: friends who went to Canada and the United States found much simpler routes back into the profession. At a time when Australian schools are crying out for staff, the message landed.
| “I am ready to teach. The children are ready to learn. The only thing in the way is paperwork.” — Consuelo, internationally qualified teacher, as reported by News Corp Australia, 7 May 2026 |
🏛️ The Budget Win: $85.2 Million for Skills Recognition Reform
On 12 May 2026, the Federal Treasurer handed down the 2026 to 2027 Budget. Embedded inside was a direct response to years of advocacy from the Activate Australia’s Skills coalition.
💼 $85.2 million over four years to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations for faster and more flexible skills assessments.
🔧 $75.1 million for a modern skills assessment system at Trades Recognition Australia, including streamlined assessment to licensing pathways for priority trades such as electricians and plumbers.
🏛️ $5.6 million over three years for a new TRA program that assesses onshore visa holders, recognising existing qualifications and trade experience.
📋 $4.5 million to strengthen regulatory oversight of skills Assessing Authorities, with mandatory annual performance reports.
🧑⚖️ Consultation on the establishment of a Skills Migration Commissioner, a long-standing campaign demand.
The government expects the reforms to bring an additional 4,000 skilled trades workers into the workforce each year. They also expect the reforms to cut the time it takes to recognise overseas qualifications by up to six months.
It is a meaningful first step. The campaign is right to call it a win. However, it is also clear that more reform is needed, particularly for non-trade professionals, teachers, allied health workers, and the women whose stories drove this campaign forward.
🎓 Why This Matters for UMA College Students
At UMA College (RTO 45617, CRICOS 04318A), the majority of our students come from migrant, refugee, or culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Many already hold qualifications and years of experience from overseas. Additionally, many more are starting fresh, building Australian credentials in industries crying out for staff.
Our nationally recognised qualifications give students a clear, transparent pathway into work and further study in Australia. We focus on the sectors where the skills shortage is sharpest:
👶 Early Childhood Education and Care – CHC30121 Certificate III and CHC50125 Diploma.
🤝 Community Services – CHC33021 Certificate III in Individual Support, CHC42021 Certificate IV in Community Services, and CHC52025 Diploma of Community Services.
👨🍳 Commercial Cookery and Hospitality – SIT30821 Certificate III through to SIT60322 Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Management.
🕌 Islamic Studies – 11114NAT Diploma of Islamic Studies.
⛑️ First Aid short courses – HLTAID009, HLTAID011, and HLTAID012.
We also offer Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) assessments, so students with existing skills and experience can have that work formally recognised rather than starting from scratch. This is exactly the kind of pathway the Activate Australia’s Skills campaign has been advocating for at a national level.
📣 How You Can Support the Campaign
The campaign is not finished. The next phase pushes for broader reform across non-trade professions and a faster rollout of the Skills Migration Commissioner. Here is how you can help:
🔗 Visit the campaign hub: activateaustralia.org.au
📲 Share the campaign tiles and quotes from the National Press Club address on your socials.
✉️ Talk to your MP about why simpler, fairer skills recognition matters in your community.
🎓 If you or someone you know is rebuilding a career in Australia, explore study pathways at UMA College: uma.edu.au
UMA College proudly supports the goals of the Activate Australia’s Skills campaign. Every nationally recognised qualification we deliver is another doorway opened for someone who came to Australia ready to contribute. The federal budget has shown that this advocacy works. Now it is time to make sure the reforms reach every migrant and refugee whose talents are still being wasted.
Interested in studying with us? Contact our team at [email protected] or visit uma.edu.au to explore courses, fees, and intake dates.
UMA College | RTO Code 45617 | CRICOS Provider Code 04318A
UMA Education Solutions Ltd. Nationally recognised training delivered to migrant, refugee, and local students across Sydney.