1st October 2007 saw the sitting of the first Australian citizenship tests. Migrants are now required to sit a multiple choice examination which will test their knowledge of the country’s history, traditions, government and values as part of their being accepted into Australia as fully-fledged citizens.

The tests, compiled by the Australia federal government comprise 20 questions out of a possible 200, of which migrants are required to correctly answer a minimum of 12. All possible questions and answers are distributed to examinees prior to their sitting the tests so that they are able to revise the material in order to maximise their knowledge of their new home county and boost their chances of success.

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Australian citizenship tests come into effect

Australia’s economic boom has fuelled demand for increasing the intake of Australia’s immigration skilled worker policy. The business council of Australia has called for the newly elected government to bring in at least one million extra people to help lift productivity and help fill shortages in skilled worker positions.

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Recent stop work strikes by the Australian nursing bodies has forced the shortage of nurses in Australia to become a key issue in the upcoming election. Australian opposition leader Kevin Rudd is promising more money, including cash bonuses, to meet the national shortage of 19,000 nurses across the country.

"Across Australia nurses are the front-line troops in our health and hospital system, but right across the country we have a shortage of nurses," said Mr Rudd.

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4000 UK trained doctors were left without jobs in 2007, many criticizing the NHS’s chaotic recruitment process making many doctors disillusioned with the system.

The severe shortage of doctors in Australia may force many to consider immigration. There are a lot of prospects for doctors entering Australia, and for doctors willing to spend some time in smaller population or regional areas the benefits are even greater.

Experience and qualified doctors can be fast tracked through the Australian visa application process.

Job vacancies are expected to rise over 36 per cent over the six years for people with skills and qualifications in the agricultural and natural resource sector.

The University of Sydney study forecast an extra 123,000 agriculture-related jobs in the Australian economy over the next six years.

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The IT skills shortage in Australia is forcing up market salaries as business scrambles to fill positions. British IT professionals who are interested in taking up permanent residence in Australia can look forward to comparable international market salaries.

The latest research by Mercer surveyed 6,545 IT companies in 35 countries. "Australia, which is facing a growing skills shortage of IT professionals, has seen IT salaries increasing steadily in recent years, and it is now comparable with other major western countries," said Mr Ken Gilbert, head of human capital at Mercer.

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Set to be a key issue in the upcoming federal election campaign, business in Australia says a lot more needs to be done to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers

The SAI Global-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) survey of investor confidence released on Tuesday put the availability of suitably qualified staff as number one in the top ten constraints on business investment.

ACCI chief executive Peter Hendy said there were skill shortage problems in every sector across the economy.

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Recent figures released show that Victoria’s population increased by 74,000 over the past year, with immigration accounting for 57 per cent of the growth. Victoria’s capital city Melbourne is seeing the majority of migrants, with several hundred arriving each week.

The rise in Australian Immigration has accompanied the economic boom and big business, eager for more consumers and workers.

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Australia’s Institute of Chartered Accountants has released research findings that there are four jobs for every one accountant in the country, and this trend is set to increase as the survey showed that 43% of young Australian accountants are planning to move overseas in the next two years.

Lisette Cochineas, the New South Wales general manager for the institute, told the Age newspaper that meeting the shortage of accountants in Australia is a challenge. "We do attract a lot of people from the UK and Asia to work in Australia," she said.

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Latest research by Monash University shows that the Australian state of Victoria will see a professional skills shortage of nearly 50,000 people within the next 15 years. The gap between university-qualified workers and the requirements of industry will grow to 49,000 by 2022.

Victoria will aim to attract a greater share of Australia's skilled migrant intake, Premier John Brumby announced today.

Mr Brumby said the Government wanted to boost Victoria's current share of Australia's skilled migrants from 26.8 per cent to 28.5 per cent by 2011.

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