The Motor Trades Association of Australia is calling for automotive trades to be added to the nation’s priority skilled visa processing categories amid an estimated shortage of 38,000 workers.
The appeal follows home affairs minister Tony Burke’s latest skilled migration announcement, which prioritises occupations supporting law enforcement, defence, healthcare, teaching and construction, along with agriculture and fisheries.
Automotive occupations remain eligible for skilled visas but are excluded from the priority processing categories.
MTAA executive director Bruce Billson says the framework overlooks workers essential to many of the sectors receiving priority.
“The Government has rightly identified industries facing workforce challenges,” Billson says.
“What appears to have been missed is how dependent those industries are on the skilled technicians and mechanics who keep their vehicles, machinery and equipment operating.
“Ambulances need servicing. Construction equipment needs maintaining. Trucks need repairing. These essential services all depend on skilled automotive workers.”
MTAA estimates Australia is short of 38,000 automotive trade professionals and technicians.
Its 2026 Industry Skills Shortages Survey found more than 90% of automotive employers considered recruitment difficult or very difficult.
The sector’s vacancy fill rate was 48%, while average applications per vacancy fell from 8.2 in 2024 to three this year.
Almost seven in 10 employers expect shortages to worsen during the next 12 months.
“These are genuine and persistent skills shortages affecting an industry that employs more than 320,000 Australians and supports almost every other sector of the economy,” Billson says.
He says the focus on construction is understandable given Australia’s housing and infrastructure objectives, but those projects also depend on automotive technicians.
“Excavators, cranes, trucks and mobile equipment all require qualified technicians to maintain and repair them,” Billson says.
“The same applies to healthcare, education, agriculture, mining and freight.”
MTAA supports combining targeted migration with greater investment in domestic training, apprenticeship pathways and incentives.
“Skilled migration must complement, not replace, a strong domestic training system,” Billson says.
The association will seek a meeting with Burke and the Department of Home Affairs to discuss how automotive occupations could be better recognised within Australia’s migration priorities.
