Laurie Ferguson (Reid, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

There are no locals available in certain trades because the training has not been undertaken, and it is not going to happen if employers do not have any incentive to do it. That is the reality.

I am glad to see that the government is reacting seven years after the 1999 report about the need for action with regard to illegal workers in this country. We know that the government’s new legislation will not catch many employers, because of the requirement that the employer is reckless in the hiring of these people or did not know. However, we are pleased that despite claims of xenophobia the government actually does understand that there is an issue of illegal workers in the country. The situation is that the government is determined to repress people’s wages further over the next few years, to take away their rights and to drive down wages despite the ‘sloganising’ about the real income changes over the last decade.

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