‘The first time agencies have worked together on one topic’: An inside look at CPRA’s ‘Migration Taskforce’
An unprecedented collaboration between the Communication and Public Relations Australia (CPRA) and 15 leading comms agencies advocated for changes to Australia’s skills visa programs – changes that were made official this past week. Today, we take an inside look into the two-year campaign.
This week, the Australian Government added public relations to its Core Skills Occupation List, allowing international talent to access an employer-sponsored Skills in Demand visa.
The CPRA was a leader in advocating for this change through its ‘Migration Taskforce’, that had support from a number of the country’s leading PR agencies – Herd MSL, Havas Red, WE Communications, Ogilvy PR, Sling & Stone, Sefiani, The Haus, History Will Be Kind, Icon, Porter Novelli, Burson, Agenda C, Mango Communications, Salt & Shein, Thrive PR, and The Savage Company.
Chair of the taskforce, and former CPRA chair, Shane Allison, told Mumbrella the changes were crucial, as Australia’s PR talent landscape continues to face a number of challenges.
“As an industry, we were finding it difficult to not just fill junior roles, but also mid and senior roles. We didn’t have the talent pipeline domestically to fill the changing role of comms that people had expected,” he explained.
“During the pandemic especially, the profession hadn’t been able to keep up with the role and the demand of comms, because we simply didn’t have enough people.”
So, in early 2022, the CPRA took the problem to its members, many of whom also recognised its gravity, and how critical it was to address it.
“We held a roundtable with over 30 agency leaders, and it was probably the largest gathering of agency leaders to discuss the topic of skills that there has ever been,” Allison continued. “And the first time that many of these agencies have worked together on one topic.”
The roundtable – which he described as one of the most open and transparent conversations he’s experienced – demonstrated some willingness from the agencies and corporate leaders to work together, marking the first step in the Migration Taskforce’s journey.
Six months later, the CPRA finished raising the $120,000 needed to engage EY, who supported the industry body in undertaking necessary modelling and submissions.
In September 2022, the government announced that it would make changes to the Skills in Demand visa, so very quickly, the Migration Taskforce was able to get its first submission in. It was then a long waiting game, according to Allison.
“It sat for the better part of a year while we waited for the government’s reviews to come through.”
Then in 2023, reviews came through, so the CPRA and EY were able to update the submissions – which included changing occupation codes and redefining the skills that went into those.
“That was a key part of this success,” Allison said. “Because the government could actually recognise what a communications manager does and how important this industry is.”
Over the course of six submissions total and continued engagement from the government, the CPRA has gotten to where it is today – and Allison hopes the united front will continue on this topic.
He said the taskforce members were so focused on doing something for the benefit of the whole industry – not just their individual businesses.
“That includes the corporate members, government, and not-for-profit communicators, who are equal measure to agencies. The skills shortage is an industry-wide problem that we’re facing, and the members who supported the taskforce were really focused on that the whole way through,” he explained.
Access to the visa through the recent changes will allow international talent to extend their employment in Australia for up to four years, carving out a future with a pathway to permanent residency supported by employers.
The updates however, are not without their flaws, with application costs for Skills in Demand visas doubling to $3,115.00, plus legal costs for each application along with extended waiting lists averaging four-five months.
“There’s always challenges ahead,” Allison continued. “We have to keep working as an industry to make sure that we have the training and resources available for the next generation of skilled communicators.”
And for those who might fear this will ‘take away from Australian jobs’, Allison debunked that very simply.
“This is an opportunity to bring in some exceptional talent, and then hire that next generation of Australian talent, who will be trained as exceptional communicators by the people we’re bringing in under these visas,” he stressed. “We need that skilled talent now, we need people who can come in and show graduates of today the skills of tomorrow.
“It’s about filling out that middle layer of talent that we’re missing. Through that, we’ll have a really sustainable pipeline of activity in our profession.”
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
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Communication and Public Relations Australia
CPRA
Migration Taskforce
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public relations
reform
Shane Allison
Skills in Demand visa
visa reform
I do not consider PR an industry requiring a high degree of skill beyond an O-Level in English. Furthermore, they should be collaborating on training and elevating from a selection of locals rather than importing the issue of local unemployment and non-career pathways for Australians
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