Meat Industry Labour Agreement

The Meat Industry Labour Agreement covers one occupation, Skilled Meat Worker, for up to four years or permanent residence on the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494) and, after a three year transition period, the Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186). There is no ANZSCO code; code 070499 is used, and the tasks are those of Slaughterer and Meat Boner and Slicer, including operating restrainer and stunning equipment, eviscerating and trimming carcasses and separating meat from bone.

The skills requirement is specific to this agreement. The worker must be assessed by a MINTRAC registered assessor, or an assessor approved by the Commonwealth, as a Skilled Meat Worker at a level commensurate with the AQF Certificate III in meat processing, and must also have two years of skilled experience at an acceptable meat processing establishment, nine months at an Australian establishment on a subclass 457 or 482 visa, or one year at an Australian establishment on another temporary visa. Subclass 186 applicants who already had a positive assessment for an earlier 457 or 482 grant under the agreement are not reassessed unless the Department asks, for example where employment was broken for more than three months.

English is IELTS 5.0 overall with no component minimum for the subclass 482 visa in all regional categories, and the same for the subclass 186 visa (or functional English for a former subclass 457 holder who was not tested at grant) and for the subclass 494 visa in Category 2 and 3 locations. Subclass 186 and 494 applicants in Category 2 and 3 locations must be under 55, and earnings in Category 3 locations may be 90% of the TSMIT or CSIT, with an annual top-up where an Australian doing equivalent work received more. Schedule 4 of the meat agreement template sets the visa-level experience minimums. All figures are from the Home Affairs page, read on 25 September 2026.