Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

But imagine my surprise when I learnt that some of the key users, the key employer groups who were using this 457 program, were the same people who were out there publicly trashing it—that is, the union bosses. The union bosses are out there at the moment telling the Australian public that they should not support a free trade agreement between China and Australia, even though it will result in tens of thousands of Australians gaining employment and will add billions of dollars to the national economy. They are running this racist line out there, they are trashing the free trade agreement and they are trashing the 457 program. But, as it turns out, trade unions have sponsored 41 holders of 457 visas over the past five years, with several unions still acting as a sponsor today. It shows the hypocrisy that we see sitting opposite, bearing in mind that almost everybody sitting opposite us was a former union boss.

Government members interjecting—

See this speech in context