Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to pass on my thanks to my colleagues in this place who have agreed to make shorter statements to the House so that more of us could speak on this important matter, the passenger movement charge amendment bill. I also want to speak about and point out the disgraceful lack of governance and process that we are seeing here today—not just today; it has been going on for months, both since the Abbott government first came into power but also since we came back to this place as recently as August. But I want to turn to the backpacker tax itself.

Without any industry consultation or modelling, 16 months ago this government decided to whack a tax on backpackers in what was a disgraceful $540 million tax grab. It did so without considering the fact that the number of backpackers visiting Australia is already falling, and the tax would only make the matter worse. As the member for Solomon said, in the Top End the rates have gone down some 30 per cent in a great part of this country that has extraordinary development opportunities. It has many opportunities to grow. To have this workforce suddenly basically ripped out from the farmers in the area is nothing short of a national disgrace.

As we have heard, there has been no modelling done on this backpacker tax or where it might end. 'Where has evidence-based policy making gone?' I ask the members of the House. It just gets plucked out of nowhere, and here we are. In the 16 months since the 2015 budget we might have thought we could trust the government to have thought through the implications. But clearly that is not the case, and it is never going to be the case. It is a shambolic mess and it is shameful governance, and this country deserves better.

We have heard from many as to what working holiday-makers do when they come to Australia: they harvest crops; they pack fruit and vegetables; they work in processing animal products; they work in fishing and pearling industries; they tend plantations and forestry areas; they work in residential and non-residential building construction. In my electorate they work in the service industry and hospitality. They also work in the tourism industry—cafes and so forth—and even in the health industries. Many of them work in aged care. These are not all the areas. We know working holiday-makers work throughout our economy.

One of the main reasons we have seen the backpacker numbers fall is international competition. This is where the modelling problem comes in. We have our near neighbours, New Zealand—a beautiful country, as the members Paterson has pointed out—which has a 10 per cent rate for working holiday-makers. 'How are we meant to compete with that?' I ask my friends here today.

I will take a few moments to talk about the impact on Brand. Brand is a southern metropolitan area in the south-west of the Perth metropolitan area. It is not a regional area. It borders on a regional area. In my electorate on the Kwinana industrial strip stands the largest grain exporting and handling facility in the nation. From CBH's silos WA wheat farmers export their crops. Some of the best grain in the world goes direct to Indonesia. It feeds our near neighbours. They are operating in an increasingly competitive environment, and growers' ability to access markets decreases with every dollar added to cost. They also depend on backpackers in wheat silos across the state—people who come for seasonal work to lab test, to collect, to do all the testing that is required on the great grain crop of Western Australia.

Not only wheat farmers but all Australian agriculture must be able to compete on a level playing field with like countries such as, as I said, our near neighbours, New Zealand. We rely on the labour that is essential to seasonal work. What I can say about this government—and we have seen it consistently—is that it is consistently incompetent. It is a shame, with this being my first time in parliament, to have to witness it firsthand, but I am glad I am here to hold them accountable.

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