A Goldfields-Esperance business owner hopes the Home Affairs Minister will soon sign an agreement that could secure desperately-needed hospitality workers ahead of the summer tourist season.
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has asked for the region's Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) to be updated to include an extra 22 occupations, many of which are vital to the hospitality industry.
It has also asked for the Laverton Shire to be incorporated into the agreement, which could support the recently funded project to seal the 2,700km The Outback Way, from Laverton to Winton in Queensland.
The agreement allows businesses to sponsor overseas workers with certain skills more easily than standard visa programs.
It has been in place in the Goldfields since 2019.
Jane Coole runs an Esperance restaurant and hoped the updated DAMA would be signed so she could attract workers by summer.
But she conceded that was unlikely.
"That's not to say it's not a good idea that will be ready for the next year," she said.
She was preparing to head into summer with 12 full time staff this year, down from 37 two years ago.
"If I could recruit another five I'd be happy," she said.
"We've got to that stage where you cut your costs to meet what you've got."
Skills the regions want added to the DAMA include bar attendant, barista, cook, delivery driver, earth moving plant operator, enrolled nurse, hospitality workers, hotel or motel manager, hotel service manager, kitchen hand, loader operator, mixed crop farmer, motor mechanic, pastry cook, registered nurse (aged care), registered nurse (medical), retail manager, scaffolder, truck driver, waiter and waiter (supervisor).
City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder lead policy and research advisor Lauren Chapman-Holle said the council had also asked that permanent residency pathways and age concessions be added to all 22 occupations, meaning that people up to 55 years old would be eligible.
Over the past 13 months, the Goldfields-Esperance DAMA had granted 39 primary visas and 39 dependent visas.
The council also asked for the role of chief executive or managing director be removed from its DAMA.
A Home Affairs Department spokesperson said processing times for the labour agreement caseload, including those lodged under a DAMA, varied.
Calls for uniform DAMA across WA
While Ms Coole supported expanding the region's DAMA, she believed a single, uniform agreement should be rolled out across all eligible areas to simplify processes and even the playing field for employers.
She said the current situation would likely see the South West outcompete the Esperance-Goldfields region for hospitality staff this year, partly because they were already included in their DAMA.
"The Esperance Goldfields region has an incredibly dominant mining and agricultural industry, which is great but there are industries that sit underneath that," she said.
"By making it a broad DAMA and a state-wide DAMA, it picks up all those [occupations] that may not have had that attention."
Laverton Shire President Patrick Hill said the region needed workers not only to upgrade the enormous Outback Way, but also to support mining projects.
"That's the biggest worry for everyone at the moment," he said.
"We've got all this funding and applications coming in to upgrade these mining operations up in the northern Goldfields but where are we going to get people to do it? That's the biggest question."
