Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst I acknowledge this motion that is before the House and the fact that it talks about an important topic—tourism in northern Australia and the importance it has to the northern Australian economy—there are a couple of points in the motion that I think the government is trying to gloss over and not deal with the reality of. The first, as the previous speaker on this side of the House mentioned, is that this government, on coming to office, cancelled all funding that was allocated to promoting and developing the domestic tourism market. I am from regional Victoria, and we have cold winters, and there are lots of people seeking a warmer tourism location and holiday. It is just disappointing that this government has cancelled the funding that would have helped promote northern Australia to people in the southern states that have cold winters.

This government, on coming to office, also scrapped tourism grants, which were going to help a number of small businesses and tourism operators to develop strategies. In this motion, the mover has acknowledged the government is investing in small business through its Jobs and Small Business package released in this year's budget. Let us not forget that members of this government are the same people who voted against a similar package when the Labor government brought it forward. Then, when this government came to office last year, in its first budget it scrapped a similar package. Now it has brought it back. So it is not new policy by this government; it is Labor policy that these government members voted against when they were in opposition. Then they repealed it when they were in government. They have now brought it back in this budget.

The other point I would like to make is about the final part of the motion, about the creation of jobs. Jobs for who? In my experience, and from talking to people who work in the North, this government has been very good at creating jobs for overseas workers, for backpackers, in the North, particularly in the tourism industry. The latest figures we have are that there are quarter of a million backpackers working here in Australia on the 417 visa program and a further 10,000 of them on the 462 visa program, many of whom are working in the north of Australia.

This government has a priority about creating job opportunities not for locals, not for local young people, but for people who are here on temporary work visas. And just to demonstrate how committed—or addicted—this government is to creating job opportunities for young overseas people here on working holidays, it proudly promoted in a press release, as recently as 19 June 2015, that it was improving the vital working holiday program to include allowing backpackers to work for 12 months instead of six months for a single northern employer, and a small number of these would then receive a second year. The government quite proudly promotes that it is going to streamline and make it easier for these overseas backpackers. It is extending the work visa holiday program.

Why this is a problem and why I seek to raise it is that the government is making it easier for young overseas backpackers to work here in this country in the same areas that are in the midst of a youth unemployment crisis. In Townsville in July 2015, the latest figures show, youth unemployment was up to 19.7 per cent. In Cairns, also part of northern Australia, youth unemployment is 22.1 per cent. So more than one in five young people in Cairns is unemployed and cannot get work. Yet this government is seeking to streamline and make it easier, to encourage more overseas workers to come in and take these local jobs.

If this government were serious about creating jobs in northern Australia, it would be serious about creating jobs for local people. It would not be seeking to use the temporary work visa program to bring in overseas workers, when we know there are locals available. It is disappointing that this government, in this motion, has not outlined how it is going to create local jobs.

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