Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, 41. You had some from the Australian Education Union; the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association; the good old United Voice; the Australian Services Union; the Finance Sector Union; the Maritime Union; the National Tertiary Education Union and the Transport Workers Union—all those unions went out and employed 457 visa workers, and yet the very same people that they employed on 457 visas are now writing the scripts and doing the copy-writing work to attack the 457 program. What absolute hypocrisy!

Another thing: during the sitting break we had for the last three weeks in parliament, I was down here on Friday for one of the committee hearings and we finished early. I took the opportunity to go and visit Old Parliament House, which is something I had not had the opportunity to do—and I would recommend to anyone who has not yet done so to go through Old Parliament House. There was a statement there, a quote from the former Prime Minister Stanley Bruce, from 9 May 1927 when opening the old provisional House, and he said: 'May those who enter this open door govern with justice, reason and equal favour to all. May they do so in humility and without self-interest. May they think and act nationally. May they speak with the voice of those who sent them here—the voice of the people.'

That is the whole problem for those on the other side of the chamber: the people who sent them there are the trade union leaders, and they do not speak with the voice of the people; they speak with the voice of the trade union movement. And that is why we have this xenophobic campaign against the China free trade agreement, backed up by this shameful motion that pretends there is some zero sum game.

The 457 visas are an important part of our economy. When foreign workers come to this country they add to the supply, they add to the demand, they make our country a richer country, and they help to create more jobs in this economy.

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