Shots fired between Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and Peter Dutton in aftermath of 457 visa changes: “Did I just get trolled”?

In the aftermath of the federal government’s abolishment of the 457 visa scheme, tech billionaire and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has taken to Twitter to defend his company against what he labelled as “bullshit” comments made by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

On Channel Nine’s Today show on Wednesday morning, host Karl Stefanovic reeled Cannon-Brookes into the debate on the visa changes by quoting comments he made to The Australian about the importance of 457 visas back in 2016.

Read more: Startup sector enraged by scrapping of 457 visa: “We want these kind of innovators to continue to make Australia their home”

“He said to The Australian that 457 visas were essential for Australia and any move to make bridging the talent gap more difficult would be bad for the country,” Stefanovic said to Dutton on the show.

In response, Dutton questioned if Atlassian does anything good for local talent.

“How many young Australians are they employing?” Dutton said.

“Are they going into schools looking for young kids to come and work in jobs?

“Are they employing mature aged workers who have found themselves out of a job elsewhere? Let’s have a look at the details.”

In a series of tweets, Cannon-Brookes questioned if he was being “trolled” and explained Atlassian’s “default position” is to first find Australians to fill positions because it’s “cheaper and faster”. Only in the case when “experience required isn’t there”, he says, does the tech company look to the the 457 visa scheme, or “the new program” that will replace it.

After stating that Atlassian has created more than 1000 local jobs and run thousands of computer science classes for Australians while hiring hundreds of graduates in the country, Cannon-Brookes told Dutton to “#BringItOn”.

Cannon-Brookes also said he believes the new temporary visa scheme is “remarkably similar” to the 457 visas it’s replacing and may be “quite good”.

Wow… ? did I just get trolled by a govt minister as being un-Australian? https://t.co/tM9Qxs3het – this bullshit makes me mad…

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

Firstly… I haven’t given any quotes on 457s recently, so any attributions are from old articles (Nov 2016?) on “abolishing 457s”… https://t.co/OiQe87IqLS

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

As far as I can read so far… 457s have been named-changed with a remarkably similar program? (which actually looks quite good?)… https://t.co/yHPWzhW8th

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

They removed occupations like actor, blacksmith, deer farmer, golfer, goat farmer & zookeeper ? @Atlassian doesn’t hire a lot of those… https://t.co/p4CYttOhUt

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

(One might wryly comment there’s an unaustralian joke in removing betting agency managers, shearers, jockeys and dog/horse trainers?) … https://t.co/R4lN9xMzNz

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

The tightenings in rules put in place actually look quite sensible to me (full reading coming soon)? … https://t.co/3osZMxrYZG

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

And @PeterDutton_MP trolling?
Us: ?? Jobs created? 1000+. Grads hired? 100s. Scholarships? 100s. Kids CS classes? 1000s
You: ?#BringItOn https://t.co/AYRdRTKI2x

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

This “new program” seems to remove large categories of jobs which are nothing to do with tech – industries without those shortages. Great. https://t.co/0MeB6Zkn4Z

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

Let’s separate nationalism and logic. This program seems logical. The “Australia first” Trumpy crap adds nothing but hot air. https://t.co/Pd0mD3dibj

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) April 19, 2017

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