Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Not at all. Let me just say to that interjection: Australia is so blessed with jobs at the moment, we are actually importing jobs! In Western Australia, should the member for Batman ever cross the Nullarbor, he will find out that over there the state Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, Mr Eric Ripper, is begging our minister to relax the terms and conditions of the 457 visas to bring in more skilled workers—even unskilled workers. This is Mr Ripper, a senior member of the Labor Party, saying, ‘Please relax this so we can bring more workers into Australia because we can’t fill the jobs.’ That includes those on cargo vessels, merchant ships. Not only are we having trouble getting people in the Navy but we are having trouble stocking our ships. So, Member for Batman, we do not want to export Australian jobs at all.

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