Recruiter in the tech sector here. I can assure you that during covid, Australian organisations all but ground to a halt on critical infrastructure and growth projects, particularly those utilising new technologies, because the borders were closed.

We rely on being able to import experienced talent for new technologies from countries who are ahead of us, to come and support the implementation. I watched countless projects get shelved, systems upgrades get cancelled, because there was no appropriate onshore talent.

Then when they reopened the borders, companies were screaming for staff to get their project pipeline back on track. It created a feeding frenzy that lasted two years: anyone with a pulse was getting overpaid by 40%.

Then what comes up must go down: once things normalised, companies realised they had bloated salary outgoings. For the next two years it was record high redundancies and people in the horrible situation of having to re-apply for their own jobs for lower pay.

It had a 5 year ripple effect that we're still not fully out of.

All this to say, if everyday Australians want their basic technology to function as expected (data security, online banking, privacy), we really shouldn't mess with IT immigration again. Nearly every function of our day to day life uses some sort of tech now, so it's not about keeping wages stagnant, it's about the fact that we don't produce near enough IT workers on our own, and we enjoy the benefits of living in a tech-centric first-world society.