The study by Edith Cowan University’s school of management also found temporary migrant workers played an essential role in Australia’s resource industry by filling highly skilled positions that could not be met by local supply.

“This study is the first of its kind in Australia and shows that although the resource industry prefers to employ Australian workers first, some of the skills required are specialised and only taught in one or two institutions globally which means the skill set required is simply not available,” researcher Dr Susanne Bahn said.

For example, Bahn said helicopter engineers needed to maintain equipment for oil and gas projects were only taught in the UK and France.

“Due to the lack of specialised skilled workers in Australia these companies are using their global workforce and employing them where and when they are needed.”

Unions around the country have been vocal in their push for skill requirements to be filled from within Australia first and for resource companies to train more locals to fill the vacancies.

Australian Mines and Metals Association executive director Minna Knight said the findings dispelled any misinformation migrant workers on 457 visas were preventing Australians from gaining resource jobs.

“Highly specialised overseas workers are utilised as a short-term solution to ensure resource projects move through construction and into the operational phase where employment and training opportunities will be generated for decades to come,” Knight said.

“Contrary to misinformation from some in the union movement, it costs employers significantly more to hire overseas workers with employers also required to implement training programs to ensure key skills are passed onto the local workforce and remain in Australia.”

Along with the findings on skilled migration, the study found some skilled Australian workers in the Eastern States were reluctant to relocate to Western Australia.

“We identified cases where recently retrenched workers declined to relocate to WA and this was due to a range of reasons from social and family commitments to the high cost of living and a lack of infrastructure in some areas,” Bahn said.

A final report of the study will be released by the end of 2012.