New forum links employers and government to navigate complex immigration settings
Workforce management professionals across Australia will gain a new channel into immigration policy discussions with the creation of an Immigration Advisory Group (IAG) by the Employee Mobility Institute (TEMi).
The new body is designed to act as a coordinated, Australasian-led industry voice on immigration, at a time when visa and migration settings are increasingly central to how organisations source and deploy talent across borders.
According to TEMi, the IAG's role will be to track and interpret changes to immigration frameworks and help talent mobility practitioners understand how policy shifts affect workforce strategies and business outcomes.
It will also serve as a forum where employers, mobility specialists, and government can raise issues and shape advocacy priorities collectively.
TEMi founder Deborah de Cerff said the new group builds on more than a decade of industry engagement work.
"TEMi has played an important role in facilitating constructive policy dialogue across the global workforce management community for over a decade, fostering industry collaboration through its roundtables, forums, and events," TEMi founder Deborah de Cerff said in a statement.
"The formation of the IAG, operating under TEMi to ensure neutrality, will create a trusted conduit between industry and government, enabling knowledge exchange and collective advocacy on the issues that matter most to the sector as a whole."
She added the initiative is intended to give mobility and HR leaders better access to relevant insights, and to make it easier to influence policy settings that shape cross-border hiring and deployment.
"This initiative will give workforce management professionals greater access to timely, trusted immigration insights and more opportunity to shape advocacy efforts, enhancing productivity, and making moving talent across borders easier and more effective."
Leaders under the IAG
TEMi will chair the group and oversee it under formal terms of reference, with support from a panel of senior mobility practitioners and immigration partners.
Jamie Lingham, CEO of Absolute Immigration, was appointed as Immigration Liaison Officer, who will act as the group's key correspondent with the Department of Home Affairs.
"Immigration is a fundamental pillar in the broader mobility landscape, but without a coordinated approach, we have been seeing missed opportunities, inconsistent messaging and fragmented feedback," Lingham said in a statement.
"Opening a proactive dialogue where industry and government can provide opinions and share ideas will significantly benefit both sides, as well as the industry as a whole."
Other panel members are drawn from major employers and advisory firms including the University of Queensland, Seek, Westpac, Roam Migration Law, Ramsay Health, BAE Systems, Woolworths, Telstra and King & Wood Mallesons.
Meanwhile, the Department of Home Affairs will also be a central stakeholder in the group's work and is expected to participate in regular discussions convened by the IAG.
"The Department looks forward to engaging with the IAG to add value to the wider talent mobility community," said Servet Brennan, Director Business, Industry & Regional Outreach, Department of Home Affairs, in a statement.
