Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You've not tried a Tasmanian cherry, clearly! Somercotes in Ross, Stonecrest in Sorell and Edgewater in Ouse are spread throughout my electorate, but they all share a need for backpacker labour. All three made submissions about the danger this tax poses to them, in terms of discouraging backpackers from coming to Australia to work on farms.

These growers, and growers all across the country, deserve legislation that gets it right—that solves the problem. They deserve better than a quick political fix.

I must stress again, to counter the untruths being bandied about this place, that Labor's decision to send this bill to a Senate economics committee will not delay passage of this bill. Liberal MPs and senators who claim we are delaying this legislation and therefore risking this season should be ashamed of themselves. They are spreading fear that has no basis in fact—not to mention the bitter irony of being members of a government that created this tax and this mess and the long delay in addressing it.

Our farms do face a longer-term structural labour problem. Fewer backpackers want to come to Australia, and those who do are less likely to work on farms than to work in city bars. Locals are reluctant to work on farms because it is isolated and seasonal and, frankly, dealing with Centrelink in terms of reporting changes to income is a nightmare every sane person wants to avoid.

We do need to consider structural changes in our employment system, for both locals and those on visas, in order to ensure our food continues to be picked, not just this year but in the years to come. But that is a question for another time.

In closing, I will just note that last week the Deputy Prime Minister likened me to Dale Kerrigan—

An opposition member interjecting—

Dale, not Darryl—the hole-digger! Perhaps he was intending it as an insult. Well, I will take it as a compliment: the Kerrigans from The Castle are a quintessential knockabout Aussie family sticking up for their rights against big business. And they win in the end.

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