Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition’s commitment is not about signing migrants up to Australian values in the workplace; it is signing them up to the union movement to be exploited. It is a patronising stance by the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party and we have seen far too much of it—going back 50 or 60 years, even going back to the days when my own father came out to this country and in successive generations. It is a relationship which is built on a form of legal servitude in the workplace. Unions are threatening these new citizens to sign up, with the promise of bluer skies if they do so.

The Leader of the Opposition is out of touch on the 457 visa. He has come into this place and attempted to discredit the visa category and yet he is out of touch with his own state and territory colleagues over this particular visa. He claimed on the Sky News Agenda program that states and territories are actively questioning the use of temporary overseas skilled worker visas. That does not stand up to scrutiny. I am informed by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs that less than two months ago all states and territories, along with the Commonwealth, discussed 457 visas at the ministerial council and, in fact, they resolved to support the visas. The council noted in its resolution:

• the critical role of sub-class 457 visas in addressing national and regional skill shortages in some areas and the importance of further developing measures that, while improving protection for temporary skilled migrants, would not materially add cost and delays for employers; and
• the important role of the Regional Certifying Bodies in some jurisdictions in the operation of regional concessions in Sub-Class 457 visa.

The states and territories have been some of the biggest users of 457 visas. As the Prime Minister mentioned yesterday during question time, since January of this year the largest single user of 457 visas was the New South Wales Department of Health. Recently the New South Wales Minister for Health issued a statement where there was a proud declaration made that almost three-quarters of the 1,000 nurses to join the New South Wales health system were as a result of their overseas recruitment drive and 457 visas. We have seen South Australia more than quadruple its state-sponsored skilled migration intake since 2002. Queensland has more than tripled it. Western Australia has nearly tripled it. And the New South Wales and Victorian governments have almost doubled it. The ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have increased their skilled migrant intake by 70 per cent, 50 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

There is support for this visa classification all around Australia. It is only the Leader of the Opposition who is beating this issue up into a scare campaign. If there are cases where people are being exploited, then refer them to the authorities and have those cases investigated. Rather than bringing it in here, dragging the person’s name into this chamber and using them for political purposes, pick up the phone and call the respective state or Commonwealth agency to carry out the investigation. That is what the opposition should be doing if they are genuinely interested in the welfare of these migrants who are coming to Australia on these temporary visas. That is what they should be doing rather than exploiting the situations taking place.

Why do we have such a high uptake in the visa classifications these days? The answer is pretty simple. In this country we are going through economic growth which is unprecedented, with the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years and jobs growth of around 180,000 per annum. We know that not only do we have skill shortages but also we are going to have a shortage in available people to fill jobs in due course. The demographics of this country are changing. We are in the same market as every other nation in the world in attracting skilled labour. We are no different.

Are we turning our back on young people and their training? No, we are not. The Leader of the Opposition got up and started talking about providing training programs for nurses and doctors. I am proud to say that only this year the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Ageing were able to announce a boost in the number of places for the training of nurses and doctors in my own state of Victoria, at the university just down the road from me, Deakin University, which has a partnership with Box Hill Institute to provide increased training for those in health and paramedical professions. That is why we have had this big uptake of 457 visas. We have a demand for skilled labour and we need to fill that demand today—not in three or four years time when the training has taken place, but right now. (Time expired)

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