Local professionals should be protected from competition with 457 visa-holders in certain industries, AusIMM says.

The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) says professional positions in the mining sector should not be included under the program.

The call came after Immigration Minister Scott Morrison flagged changes to 457 arrangements that may loosen the existing foreign labour rules,

Mr Morrison was speaking about a new Immigration Department report called Robust New Foundations (PDF), which outlined potential changes it saw as improvements.

The review looked at the level of non-compliance, current rules, the potential for a new balance between the needs of businesses and workers, possible deregulation, and other compliance and sanction issues.

AusIMM has respondent to the report and Mr Morrison’s indications, saying the Government should change the ‘skilled occupations list’ to exclude mining professionals.

With the resource industry facing double digit unemployment in several sectors, AusIMM says more and more “minerals professionals commonly report strong pressures to work more hours for the same pay (17.5 per cent); to accept lower pay or conditions for the same job (16.6 per cent); and to accept reduced working hours (8.4 per cent)”.

"The impacts of cost-cutting in the minerals sector have been particularly broad, deep and sustained; there are minerals professional with many years' experience who are struggling to find work," AusIMM president Glenn Sharrock said.

At the moment, the Government’s Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List 2014 allows businesses to bring in workers via the 457 visa program for jobs as geologists, metallurgists, mining engineers, chemical engineers, materials engineers, mine deputies, geophysicists, and geotechnical engineers.

“These occupations should be removed from the 457 visa scheme immediately,” AusIMM CEO Michael Catchpole added.

“The government must act now; we have clear evidence of high unemployment across occupations that remain on the government’s 457 visa list,” he said.

“These professions cannot remain on the lost while highly skilled Australians are unemployed.”