No, there are two new visas coming in to replace the 457 visa. It's fairly unclear to me specifically what will change under the new visa structure. One supposed change is that "there won't be permanent residency outcomes at the end of [the new 2 year visa]", but otherwise it sounds like it is possibly just a shrink to the list of approved jobs. Honestly, it sounds like it's just a ploy to grab back some voters who have defected to the far-right One Nation party without making any significant change. This suspicion is strengthened by another "announcement" [1] about the citizenship test which just appears to be a cheap shot at criticising Islamic culture based on a recent incident. [2]
No, there are two new visas coming in to replace the 457 visa. It's fairly unclear to me specifically what will change under the new visa structure. One supposed change is that "there won't be permanent residency outcomes at the end of [the new 2 year visa]", but otherwise it sounds like it is possibly just a shrink to the list of approved jobs. Honestly, it sounds like it's just a ploy to grab back some voters who have defected to the far-right One Nation party without making any significant change. This suspicion is strengthened by another "announcement" [1] about the citizenship test which just appears to be a cheap shot at criticising Islamic culture based on a recent incident. [2]
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/migrants-to-face-tough...
[2] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/islamic-groups-video-t...