Is the future of Australian food only avocado on toast?

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COMMENT

When my father and his three brothers escaped post-war Europe they, along with thousands of immigrants, helped lay the foundations for the vibrant and diverse restaurant industry we have today. More than any other industry, immigrants from countries with rich food cultures such as Greece, Italy, Lebanon and Vietnam have helped establish a restaurant scene that is the envy of the world.

We have come a long way from the Australia my father and his fellow immigrant cooks found in the 1950s. Although he came to a country where the culinary pinnacle was a pie and chips, he proudly talked of a young Australia, open and free and possessed of unlimited potential. A country that would welcome a huge post-war migrant influx with warmth and a limitless spirit of entrepreneurship. Immigration has been the cornerstone of this nation's success.

In late 2017, the government, without much consultation, ambushed the hospitality industry with the abolition of the 457 temporary work visa and replaced it with a program with many unfair and restrictive rules. Not only have these changes undermined our reputation as a modern and open nation, I believe they will have serious consequences regarding the type of restaurants Australia will have in the future.

In 2017, I opened Kisume, a contemporary Japanese restaurant in Melbourne. My vision was to create a restaurant of international excellence that you would expect to see in London or New York.To open such a restaurant, it required me to bring in highly specialised skills from all over the world: chefs skilled in fish preparation, sushi masters and managers.

What made me proud was these international chefs and managers have now trained many locals and inspired young Australians to join our hospitality business.

Most of my fellow restaurateurs are already facing staff shortages and battling to find the right people. These changes to the 457 visa will close restaurants and limit what we can open. No one wants to pay the hefty fees involved in sponsorship but many restaurants don't have a choice – there are simply not enough workers out there.

The government says these changes are necessary to stop employers using overseas staff where locals could easily fill the roles. Total fake news, I say. Yes, it would be great to encourage young Australians to take on these roles, but in cases such as Kisume, the skills simply aren't there. And without these skills, who will actually train and inspire locals?

Instead of making it harder for Australian employers to contribute to our economy and encouraging people (regardless of their origin) to pay taxes in our country, the government should be putting its effort into a balance of progressive skilled immigration. Instead of cutting TAFE funding and raising university fees, it should be encouraging the youth of Australia to get the right qualifications..

Unless we challenge these regressive policies, we might have an Australian restaurant industry that is known for avocado on toast rather than drawing the attention of the culinary world. Don't get me wrong, I love my avocado on toast, but surely we don't want to be measured by it.

Chris Lucas is the founder and chief executive of The Lucas Group.