Unless a serious shortage of local engineers is resolved, Australia's infrastructure plans, new space agencies and defence programs could be threatened.
That's the point of view of the Australian engineer Representative, the Australian Engineers Association (Engineers Australia), which warns that Australia's reliance on immigrant engineers is unsustainable.
"We are very concerned about the shortage of graduates and it is very dangerous to implement a strategy that relies heavily on immigrant labor," he said. The association's all-Australian president, White (Trish White), said.
Of the new engineers who entered the labour market in 2015, 9850 were entry-level engineering graduates, while 16000 were immigrants on temporary or permanent visas.
"when we want to provide infrastructure and provide innovation in this country, we can't do it without a large number of engineers out of college," White said.
Australia has been trying for years to reverse the decline in the number of students studying (STEM) in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but with little success.
According to the association, only 6% of girls and 11.5% of boys studied advanced mathematics in high school.
In 2001, the figures were 8% and 16%, respectively.
However, a program begun by two young female engineers has been quite successful in getting middle school students to consider engineering and other scientific work.
Engineering Power (Power of Engineering) is a non-profit program offering free one-day workshops designed to showcase engineering, mathematics and science that are not only interesting, but also creative and practical to society.
Frey (Felicity Furey), co-founder of the project, said: "after thinking about the engineering profession, 80 percent of students changed their thinking from" no "to" yes ".
Frey is saddened by his lack of female role models in the workplace. Only 13% of the engineers working in Australia are women.
"I just want to do something, I'm tired of talking about how to get girls to learn engineering, and that's why I started this job." She said.
She herself was a novice engineer and was only 25 when she first attended the workshop.
Since then, the project, managed entirely by volunteer engineers in their spare time, has reached 8000 students.
At the end of seminars in grades 9 and 10, high school students reported doubling or even tripling the number of students taking STEM in senior grades, Mr. Frey said.
The first alumni of the program are about to graduate.
Morse (Katelinel Moores) attended the first seminar in 2012. At the end of this year, she will graduate as a mechanical and medical engineer, inspired by what she saw at the seminar.
"after the seminar, I felt like, 'wow, that sounds cool, that's what I can really do.'" She said.
The key to attracting more women, Frey said, is to show girls that engineers are not boring jobs, that engineering is creative, and that it can improve the lives of people in the community.
Morse believes that attracting girls should start in primary school. "from an early age, children will be implanted in the view that mathematics and science are boys' subjects, which is crazy because mathematics and science are really great." She said.
White says Australia needs more women engineers, not just for superficial reasons. "obviously, we don't have a comprehensive talent pool for our engineering industry, which has an impact on our ability to innovate, our ability to provide infrastructure, and the ability to provide new technologies that make people's lives easier." She said.
Australian engineering: 57% of engineers are born overseas, women account for only 13% of the industry, and Australia ranks 23rd in the World Economic Forum innovation index.