There is a chance that recent changes which made Australian 457 visa more expensive and tougher to obtain could be reversed, according to australiaforum.com. The 457 visas are used by highly skilled temporary workers.

New Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who will be officially sworn in next week, vowed in his election campaign to make skilled migration a central theme of his immigration policy. Abbott has not said whether his government will repeal sections of the recent 457 visa bill, or reverse recent fee rises across a range of visa sub-classes, but he has said that skilled temporary immigration is important for Australia.

Abbott is on record as saying that the 457 skilled migration visa program must be well managed, providing rapid access to skilled workers not available in the Australian labor market, with strong compliance action to assure high standards of program integrity.