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

As the Prime Minister rightly points out, when the Leader of the Opposition was the employment minister in the Gillard government, under the 457 program, the numbers grew from 68,000 to more than 110,000. Right on cue, the member for Isaacs comes in and says 'oh well, this is all about the mining boom'. The reality is that, of the 40,000 additional 457s, there were only 3,000 who went to the mining sector. Under this government, the number of 457 visa holders has actually fallen.

The objective of the program is to find work for Australians first, and if a job cannot be filled by an Australian then employers can advertise for a 457 worker. We have promised, and have already delivered in part on this, to tighten up the 457 program. Members might be interested to know the list that was the consolidated sponsorship occupation list presided over by Labor included a number of particular classifications. One was boarding kennel or cattery operator. The other one was goat farmer. There were sculptor and others. We have said we are going to condense this list because we thought that the Leader of the Opposition was too liberal to allow goat farmers and goat herders into this country on 457 visas.

This Leader of the Opposition cannot be trusted. The Australian public have worked out that the Leader of the Opposition is a dishonourable person who seeks to be Prime Minister of this country, and people know that he speaks out of both sides of this mouth on every issue including on this issue of 457 visas.

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