The Media Federation of Australia (MFA) and The Communications Council (TCC) today welcomed the introduction of a five-year Advertising Industry Labour Agreement to cover key skill shortages in the Australian advertising sector.

The labour agreement will enable approved businesses to sponsor skilled overseas workers for visas in specified advertising industry roles where there is a demonstrated need that cannot be met in the Australian market.

MFA CEO Sophie Madden (pictured below) said: “The Australian advertising industry strongly supports Australian jobs first.

“But if we’re to maintain our status as one of the top advertising countries around the world, we need to be able to access the best-experienced talent to cover skill shortages that we can’t either grow or have available here”.

TCC CEO Tony Hale (featured picture) added: “This is great news for the industry. The MFA and TCC have come together to find an industry-wide answer to a very complex problem.

“We are all very excited to have reached this agreement with the Department of Home Affairs and would like to thank them for working with us to develop a solution that allows the industry to continue to compete effectively and grow”.

Under the Advertising Industry Labour Agreement (AILA), the MFA and TCC have co-signed a Schedule of
Responsibilities with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).

The DHA administers the AILA, including approving individual company AILAs and visa applications.

TCC and MFA will jointly manage the pre-vetting process to ensure advertising firms seeking to sponsor highly skilled overseas workers meet all endorsement criteria.