As an Adelaide resume writer, I’ve had a gutful of the South Australian government perpetuating a scam on migrants. They come to me looking for help but by then, they are in dire straights.

Far from being the land of new opportunities touted by the SA government, new migrants find South Australia riven with high unemployment and under-employment. It was bad before Covid-19, now it’s a nightmare.

The state government nominates migrants if they have the skills and experience needed on the skilled occupation list. They must stay in SA for two years.

Yet neither the skilled occupation list nor the graduate occupation list bears any resemblance to local employment status. According to Commonwealth Department of Employment, some of these professions and trades are in serious decline, more so after the Covid-19 crackdown.

Why would a state government spin SA’s charms to people in England, India and China, when locals can’t get a job here? The answer is – money.

Migrants are a boon when the economy is going well for a raft of social and economic reasons. But in a dysfunctional old economy, this ‘cash cow’ soon dries up once they realise they’ve been conned.

They can’t access JobSeeker (the dole) for two years, so they live frugally off their savings. They become angry, disillusioned and poor.

Some pay thousands of dollars to undertake dodgy vocational training courses that play no intrinsic role in helping them find career-specific jobs. Many are a complete waste of time.

This rort needs to stop.