Canberra wants to give Victoria more freedom to choose the types of skilled immigrants it gets, after Premier John Brumby warned that the annual intake should be frozen at current levels.

Suggesting the warning will be ignored, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said migration to Australia would need to rise to offset skills shortages caused by retiring baby boomers and underspending on training.

He said he believed state governments should be given more autonomy to pick the specific occupations needed to counter skills shortages.

The plan is for the Federal Government to work with the states to determine which permanent and temporary skilled migrants are needed where.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/states-to-get-more-ch...s-20080802-3p0n.html