[gluggymug]

A few years ago there was an exposé on 457 abuse in the IT industry on national tv.(http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3786315.htm)

Hence the "TCS" jab from empressplay. A lot of IT contracts for major companies in Australia are outsourced to multinational IT companies. Those multinationals use a lot of 457 workers and get the big contracts via undercutting and paying low wages to poor migrants.

Then various politicians have attacked the 457 scheme over the years. Most recently, one government backbencher from a regional mining area where unemployment is still very high threatened to quit over it.

It's reputation has been shady for quite a while. It is always raised in a bad light by the media due to abuses.

I do feel that this current move has unfairly affected legit skilled researchers like a_bonobo though. How they manage to be lumped in with 457s brought in by outsourcing companies makes zero sense.