Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I oppose the passage of the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Repeal Bill 2014. Currently in Australia noncitizens working on offshore resources and installations such as offshore or exploration platforms are required to have a visa that entitles them to work on those platforms and that entitles them to work rights and to be subject to Australian laws. That is the law of Australia: anyone working on an offshore oil platform must have a visa. But noncitizens who are working nearby, in some cases closer to the Australian shore, on vessels that may be laying pipes and are not stationary but moving around from day to day are not required to have a visa and therefore are not subject to Australian laws and work rights. In anyone's book this is completely illogical and inconsistent. That is why the previous Labor government introduced the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Bill last year to clear up the confusion that currently exists between two groups of workers who, for all intents and purposes, are doing similar work in similar zones but with different outcomes.

On 15 October 2012 the former Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen, announced that the government would legislate to clarify the situation around workers in Australia's offshore maritime zones. That clarification was brought about because of confusion that arose because of a Federal Court case, Allseas Construction v the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, in 2012. In that case the court found that vessels that were laying pipes offshore in Australia's migration zone and had noncitizens working on them were not within or working within the migration zone as defined by the act. This meant that workers on board those vessels did not require a visa. So you had people who were working within the zone that would ordinarily be accepted as Australia's migration zone, but because the vessels they were working on were not stationary they were not in the migration zone as defined in that decision and therefore Australian laws did not apply.

In the wake of this the Labor government did not act in a knee-jerk manner. We did not rush legislation into the parliament. What did we do? The Labor government undertook a process. The Migration Maritime Task Force, comprising various Department of Immigration and Citizenship experts, was developed to explore options to determine the most appropriate way to ensure that foreign workers in Australia's offshore maritime zones came within the ambit of the act. It was this independent task force that found that any question as to whether a person was in the migration zone or not should not be solely dependent on where the person was physically located but should also be dependent on the sorts of activities the person was conducting. It was acknowledged that there was a need to strike a balance between encouraging investment in Australia's offshore environments and ensuring that Australia's offshore jobs were regulated under Australian laws. This finding was also in line with a longstanding practice of the Labor Party of ensuring that all Australian employment and industries are regulated under Australian law, including those located on the landward side of the outer limits of Australia's territorial sea, in the exclusive economic zone, or in the waters above the continental shelf, which is where this work was being conducted in the Allseas case. As a result of this research and the extensive consultation with stakeholders, the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Bill was introduced to provide that a person is taken to be in the migration zone while he or she is in an area to participate in, or support, an offshore resources activity in relation to that area. The bill defines offshore resources activity as activity administered under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 and the Offshore Minerals Act or under the law of the Commonwealth, a state or a territory, as determined by a minister in writing. The bill sought to bring offshore persons into the migration zone and thereby require them to hold a visa under Australian law. This new, comprehensive framework was designed to ensure that workers in Australia's offshore resources industry are regulated under the act and required to hold specific visas.

Overwhelmingly, I believe that this is a view that is supported by Australians. Individuals who engage in offshore resources activities in Australia's offshore maritime zones should be subject to existing compliance measures in the act that address breaches of work and visa conditions. A specifically tailored visa pathway for offshore resources workers was to be developed, in conjunction with stakeholders, to meet the needs of industry groups. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives Australia the jurisdiction to do this, as it provides sovereign rights with respect to the exploration and exploitation of the natural resources of Australia's exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf.

In his second reading speech on this particular Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Repeal Bill that is before the House today the Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, spoke of the importance of the offshore resources industry to the Australian economy. He pointed out that it generates $28 billion in revenue and contributes $9 billion in direct taxes to our country. The continued success of the oil and gas industries is indeed vital to the energy needs and economic prosperity of our nation. But this industry is also a great generator of jobs—jobs for Australians—and it is on this issue that Labor differs from a coalition government. It has become painfully obvious that when it comes to jobs this government does not have Australia's best interests at heart. The minister in his speech also alluded to the difficulty of determining with any level of accuracy who is working in the offshore resources industry from overseas, what they are doing and how much they are paid—precisely the requirement for this type of visa category to be introduced in Australia.

We believe there is a principle at stake here. These are jobs which Australians can perform within our territorial waters which should be subject to Australian law, and winding back the Labor government's reforms will reopen a significant gap in Australia's ability to apply decent Australian working conditions to our offshore resources industry and regulate how foreign workers are employed on these valuable national assets.

The absence of a regulated visa scheme in offshore resources projects also poses a security risk. In the absence of a visa character test, the government has no information at all on some of the workers who are performing work on these projects. There is also a safety issue at stake here. The member for Canning pointed out that if you go onto an offshore oil platform you will go through one of the most stringent induction processes and occupational health and safety tests. There is a good reason for that, and it is that Australian occupational health and safety laws apply on those offshore oil resources. Australian workplace laws apply because those resources are subject to Australian law and within our migration zone, and that is the same approach that should be taken to projects such as the laying of pipes in similar circumstances. The inability of the government to regulate foreign workers in Australia's offshore resources industries undermines the integrity of Australia's migration program and visa regime in regulating work entitlements. This can obviously lead to scenarios where this important work is being carried out under conditions and standards that are not up to scratch in comparison with Australian laws and standards.

Just as concerning is the inability to effectively regulate these workers. Opportunities for Australians to gain access to this highly skilled work may be reduced or removed, while putting workers who hold a valid visa at a competitive disadvantage. Labor acknowledges that there is a requirement for 457 visas in certain industries under certain circumstances, but only where it is clearly demonstrated by an employer that Australians do not have the necessary skills or capabilities or are not readily available to perform that work. Only under those circumstances should 457 visas be allowed. The 457 visa program has a valid role to play not just in the migration program but also in the overarching economic framework of labour mobility generally.

Labor accepts the need to strike a balance with the legislation introduced when we were in government in 2013. We believe that strikes the right balance between encouraging investment in Australia's offshore environment and ensuring that Australia's offshore jobs are regulated under Australian laws. That is why workers who are working in these resources projects should be subject to Australia's migration laws. They should hold valid Australian visas and, importantly, they should work under conditions and safety rules which apply to the rest of the Australian workforce. That is why this bill must be voted down.

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