Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This request of the Labor Party shows that we fundamentally value Australian employment. Deputy Speaker Vasta, as you know, my electorate is a very multicultural one. I want to put it on the record up-front that there's a significant difference between xenophobia, cultivating fear, and a little bit of economic nationalism. We are a trading nation. I know, and most sensible Australians know, that we will only achieve a higher standard of living by trading in goods, services, commodities and the like. That means that we have to reach out to Asia and the rest of the world wherever we can. That means, on occasion, if there is a skills shortage in a sector of the labour market or a geographic area, we might turn to overseas workers and bring them in so that endeavours or industry can do well. However, as previous speakers have said, we turn to overseas workers as a last resort. The local labour market must be spoken to first. The local labour market, if appropriately qualified, should be turned to first.

We hear from the Turnbull-Joyce government that they should be trusted to do the right thing, that they will protect labour market testing. However, here we are in the fifth year of the Turnbull-Joyce coalition government and we know that they cannot be trusted when it comes to looking after Australian workers. We are asking that there be a minimum of four weeks where people in the local area—or a broader area, if need be—are given the opportunity to apply. Gone are the days of the CES and one noticeboard where you have to turn up to find the job. Nowadays, with electronic media and national newspapers, jobs can be advertised around the world. But we are saying that the local jobs that will be made available for Aussies should have their advertising conducted no more than four months before the nomination of a worker on a skilled visa so that the employer, if they have had to turn to bringing in overseas workers as a last resort, has certainly tested the local market.

I know—and I say this from my position as the MP for Moreton with my office in Sunnybank—that within 500 metres of my office there are over 100 restaurants. It is some of the best food—Asian food, particularly—in Queensland. Deputy Speaker Vasta, I'll take that nod from you as assent to that. As you know, it is a great community. And there are certain skills when it comes to some Asian cuisine. On occasion, some of those restaurants have had to bring in someone from another country. They're not necessarily skills that you could pick up at the local TAFE, even if our local TAFEs hadn't been gutted over the last few years.

My focus, the Labor Party's focus and every sensible Australian government's focus should be on giving Australian applicants a chance to take these jobs. We need to make sure that there aren't unrealistic and unwarranted skills that are being attached to jobs as a sneaky, back-door way to exclude Australians. As I said up-front, this is not about xenophobia; it's about showing a little bit of economic nationalism and making sure that we put Australian people in these jobs first.

I've mentioned the retail industry when it comes to chefs, but I've also seen it in the construction industry. We've seen people brought in from overseas to do jobs that should be done by Australians. I do acknowledge that the minister and the coalition government have decreased the number of jobs on the list by nearly 200. I think that there were some jobs on that list that were quite ridiculous, really. So I do commend the minister for that, but I would ask him to come back to the fundamental point that we're making here about labour market testing. We must get the balance right. We must give appropriately skilled Australians a chance to have a job, a job with fair pay, rather than having their wages and conditions undercut by people who are coming in. Overseas workers should be turned to as a last resort, not as a first resort by employers who are trying to undermine the process.

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