Australian engineers who were born overseas fear they could miss out on the AUKUS-inspired defence jobs boom because of restrictive United States security requirements.
Key points:
- US security requirements prevent people from “proscribed countries” working on defence projects
- That means some of Australia’s engineering workforce will be excluded from AUKUS
- One Australian engineer says defence sector recruiters withdraw their offers when they realise he was born in Iran
Tough rules excluding people with links to certain countries mean employers may struggle even further to fill skills shortfalls in the technical professions required for the nuclear submarine procurement, construction and deployment.
More than half (59 per cent) of Australia’s engineering workforce is overseas-born, with two thirds of new engineers coming from outside Australia every year, according to Engineers…
