Leading restaurants in a hard place with kitchen staff
A report on the problem of keeping kitchen staff was prepared for famous TV chef Neil Perry. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
They also want the Government to cut foreign labour pay rates and relax English language requirements.
A briefing note prepared for top restaurateurs, including Rockpool's Neil Perry and Quay's Peter Gilmore ahead of a recent meeting with Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, said: "Many young people want to become chefs after watching programs such as MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules, however, the reality is that standing for many hours on cold concrete floors, peeling onions or having one's hands immersed in water cleaning fish all day, is anything but glamorous but is all part of the basic training that chefs undergo."
Mr Morrison would not discuss the June meeting and said the Coalition would not detail a policy until closer to the election.
The note - believed to have been used as the basis for discussions in July with Immigration Minister Chris Bowen - said there was a "disparity" between the skills of Australian-trained staff and overseas chefs.
"Cookery graduates from TAFE are only equivalent to a Level 2 Apprentice in Japan," the note said.
South Australian regional chefs in particular have problems finding and retaining qualified staff because of the isolation, housing issues and the need to be "skilled and passionate" about food.
At the Hilton Adelaide, executive chef Dennis Leslie is in the midst of visa turmoil in the Brasserie kitchen.
He has just lost one chef, who trained in Adelaide at Le Cordon Bleu, because of a visa "debacle". "It just got too hard and she's not coming back," he said.
