Celebrity eyebrow queen Kristin Fisher exposes Australian economy’s biggest problem

Celebrity eyebrow artist Kristin Fisher has spoken out about how staff shortages are ‘killing’ beauty bosses – revealing that the industry is in a crisis post-Covid. 

The high-profile Sydney salon owner, 36, told Daily Mail Australia that she can’t fill vacancies and has now called on the government to do more to allow foreign workers into the country to fill roles. 

Ms Fisher joked in an Instagram post that she could be forced to start an OnlyFans account for her feet in order to make ends meet as her business remains saddled with debt stemming from Covid lockdowns. 

‘It’s very hard for us to dig ourselves out of the Covid debt we are all stuck in, when the business is clearly there,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘The demand is there. However, the staff shortage is killing us all.

‘Whenever we used to advertise for a receptionist role we would be inundated with applicants, this last ad we received three. We’d normally get thirty plus.’

The Double Bay salon owner, 36, told Daily Mail Australia that she ‘can’t fill vacancies’

Australian companies in certain fields can sponsor foreign workers’ visas to fill roles. 

Ms Fisher has asked for hair and beauty roles to be put back on the sponsorship scheme to encourage more foreign workers to settle in Australia. 

‘The therapists (brow artists) are the ones we cannot get for love nor money,’ she said. ‘Put simply, English, Irish and Brazilian girls are beauty queens.

‘It’s a commonly studied field in those countries and they all love to work in Australia. They’re great at what they do. Sadly it’s on the decline in Australia and girls aren’t studying beauty therapy here like they did when I was 18. There are hardly any people we can hire here.

‘Another problem that all of us have in our particular industry is we aren’t on the sponsorship scheme. We used to be, then they took hair and beauty off. 

‘I can vouch for everyone in the hair and beauty industry that we are begging to be back on the sponsorship scheme. It’s a win-win for all involved.

‘It’s cruel in so many ways because we’ve all got international employees who would do anything to be sponsored.

‘We have a brand that is thankfully strong. We have waiting lists every single day. However, we cannot get enough staff to satisfy the demand.’

Kristin (pictured in Sydney earlier this year) has also asked for hair and beauty roles to be put back on the sponsorship scheme to encourage more foreign workers to settle in Australia

The eyebrow queen drew attention to her struggles with an Instagram post where she questioned why the beauty industry wasn’t prioritised for international visa holders ‘who are desperate to work in Australia’ 

Businesses around the nation are struggling to fill vacancies with the unemployment rate at 3.4 per cent, the lowest since August 1974.

Due to Australia’s strict border closures and Covid-19 lockdowns, thousands of skilled migrants left during the pandemic and never came back.

The result is that Australia has the second-worst skills shortage of the rich OECD nations, second only to Canada.

Immigration policy will be a key plank of the Federal Government’s jobs and skills summit next week.

Unions want a minimum salary of $90,000 for skilled migrants so local wages don’t get undercut.

But businesses groups say $60,000 is more realistic, which would allow migrants to fill roles in hospitals, schools and aged care.

Mr Albanese’s government is also mulling increasing the skilled migration cap from 160,000 to 200,000 a year, and giving all skilled migrants a pathway to permanent residency.

Anthony Albanese (right) has been urged by NSW Treasurer Matt Kean (left) to bring in tens of thousands of low-skilled foreign workers to fix the nation’s crippling jobs crisis

Earlier this week, the PM was urged by the NSW government to bring in tens of thousands of low-skilled foreign workers to fill job vacancies across the country.

The demand by NSW Treasurer Matt Kean was prompted by a new forecast predicting the state will be facing a shortfall of 304,000 employees by 2025-26.

Australia’s reliance upon cheap foreign labour, including backpackers and overseas students, was exposed when borders were closed during the worst of the Covid pandemic.

While those workers are trickling back, many businesses are complaining about staff shortages, particularly as the high number of employment vacancies has created heightened expectations of wage levels among job seekers.

Exacerbating the shortages has been the government’s continued doling out of Covid pandemic leave payment to those who say they cannot work due to the need to isolate.

Workers can still collect as much as $750 a week for having to isolate due to possible Covid exposure, and this scheme will continue until at least the end of September.

NSW Treasurer Kean said the Federal Government should start ‘stamping passports’ as soon as possible as businesses continue to suffer.