Australian state plans to poach 31,000 British doctors, police officers and teachers

Jon Stone

A sparsely-populated Australian state is to try and poach 31,000 British workers with the promise of high wages and a lower cost of living.

A delegation from Western Australia will visit the UK later this month in a bid to recruit doctors, police officers and teachers.

Australian officials are planning to stress that they can outdo low British wages, which have not risen across the board in real terms since the 2008 financial crisis.

Miners, plumbers, builders, and mechanics will also be targeted in the push to bolster the booming desert region's workforce.

But the recruitment drive comes at a difficult time for the UK economy, with labour shortages hitting both public services and private industry.

Brexit and the pandemic are among factors to have exacerbated the shortages, which are hitting sectors like the health service, transport, agriculture, and hospitality.

UK ministers has so far shown little sign of pushing for higher wages and on Wednesday suggested they might bring in tighter restrictions on sick notes as a way of keeping more people in work.

British workers can expect another substantial pay cut this year as wages fail to keep up with inflation. The government's refusal to meet pay demands has provoked strikes across a range of public services.

Western Australia's police and defence industry minister Paul Papali saida: "Our wages are higher and our cost of living is lower. Our health system is world class. You will be taken care of.

"Many of our ancestors were sent from the UK to Australia as convicts. Now, it would be a crime not to make the move."

Professor Phil Banfield, chair of British Medical Association council, said the NHS was "perilously exposed to these kinds of tactics from other countries at a time when doctors and healthcare staff are in desperately short supply globally".

And Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: "It's no wonder NHS workers are tempted to up sticks to another health service which pays better.

UK news in pictures

16 February 2023: The Royal Mint of a 50p coin featuring Professor Albus Dumbledore as part of a Harry Potter-themed collection. (PA)
16 February 2023: The Royal Mint of a 50p coin featuring Professor Albus Dumbledore as part of a Harry Potter-themed collection. (PA)
15 February 2023: Swans by the River Severn in Worcester. (PA)
15 February 2023: Swans by the River Severn in Worcester. (PA)
14 February 2023: One of the new works by Banksy, appears to show a 1950’s housewife, wearing a classic blue pinny and yellow washing up gloves, with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a chest freezer, the piece is set on a white wall backdrop in Kent (PA)
14 February 2023: One of the new works by Banksy, appears to show a 1950’s housewife, wearing a classic blue pinny and yellow washing up gloves, with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a chest freezer, the piece is set on a white wall backdrop in Kent (PA)
13 February 2023: The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture “The Couple” by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. (PA)
13 February 2023: The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture “The Couple” by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. (PA)
12 February 2023: England’s Ollie Chessum dives in to score his sides second try during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London (PA)
12 February 2023: England’s Ollie Chessum dives in to score his sides second try during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London (PA)
11 February 2023: Sam Smith arrives for the Brit Awards ceremony (EPA)
11 February 2023: Sam Smith arrives for the Brit Awards ceremony (EPA)
10 February 2023: Commuters pass Tower Bridge in London (EPA)
10 February 2023: Commuters pass Tower Bridge in London (EPA)
9 February 2023: A robin redbreast takes flight in Dublin’s botanic gardens (PA)
9 February 2023: A robin redbreast takes flight in Dublin’s botanic gardens (PA)
8 February 2023: King Charles III shakes hands with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as he welcomes at Buckingham Palace, in London, ahead of an audience during his first visit to the UK since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (POOL/AFP/Getty)
8 February 2023: King Charles III shakes hands with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as he welcomes at Buckingham Palace, in London, ahead of an audience during his first visit to the UK since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (POOL/AFP/Getty)
7 February 2023: The Rt Reverend Glyn Webster lights a candle in front of the newly restored Lady Chapel East Window at All Saints North Street in York, one of thirteen stained glass windows from the church undergoing conservation work at Barley Studio (PA)
7 February 2023: The Rt Reverend Glyn Webster lights a candle in front of the newly restored Lady Chapel East Window at All Saints North Street in York, one of thirteen stained glass windows from the church undergoing conservation work at Barley Studio (PA)
6 February 2023: Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen on the picket line outside Great Ormond Street Hospital in London during a strike by nurses and ambulance staff (PA)
6 February 2023: Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen on the picket line outside Great Ormond Street Hospital in London during a strike by nurses and ambulance staff (PA)

"The UK Government has allowed NHS workers' wages to fall behind, which is a massive factor in health service's record 133,000 vacancies and missed performance standards.

"If ministers want to retain the best asset of the health service - the workforce - they need to talk pay now."

Western Australia has just 2.76 million inhabitants despite being around 20 times the size of England.

Its largest city, Perth, sits in its south western corner, and has a population of 2.2 million. The bulk of the rest of the state has a desert or arid climate.

The state's economy is booming thanks to its mining and fossil fuel extraction industries, with the territory producing nearly half of Australia's exports.

Advertisement