Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Everybody on this side of the House knows that you shouldn't take what Labor says for granted. Instead, you have to look at what they actually do because, if you sat here in this chamber today listening to what they were saying, you would think that they have always been vigorous protectors of Australians getting Australian jobs and that, when they were in government, they would have issued almost zero 457 visas. That's what you would think listening to the rhetoric from those opposite. What we know on this side of the House is: look at what they do; don't listen to what they say.

What did they actually do in relation to 457s when they were in government? What they did was issue record numbers of 457s. The numbers peaked in 2012, with 130,000 457s granted in that particular year. The extraordinary thing about that particular year was: at the same time that they were issuing record numbers of 457s for overseas workers to come here and work in this country, do you know what was happening to the job market generally? The job market was in decline. Do you know what was happening to the unemployment queues at the same time? The unemployment queues were going up. So there were fewer jobs overall and there were more and more Australians on welfare—but who were getting more jobs? The overseas workers were getting more jobs in this country at record numbers during that time. That is the extraordinary thing about the Labor Party when they were in government.

We are not going to stand here and take lectures from the Labor Party in relation to prioritising Australian jobs for Australian workers because we are happy to look at our record, and I encourage those listening to the parliament to look at our record in relation to prioritising Australians for Australian jobs. Let's compare and contrast. We've just discussed what the Labor record was, and that Labor record was a declining number of jobs, more people on the welfare queues but more overseas people taking Australian jobs. That was their record.

Let's have a look at our record, in the last 12 months even. In the last 12 months on the jobs front, 400,000 jobs were created—a record number of jobs were created in this economy. Let's look at the welfare queues. We've got the lowest proportion of working-age people on income support payments in 25 years—the lowest proportion. And now let's look at the number of 457s which were issued: the number was almost half the peak under the Labor government. So the trifecta on this side of the House is: more jobs overall created for the economy; more Australians off welfare and taking those jobs; and fewer overseas workers coming into the country. The skills gaps aren't there because Australians have been taking those particular positions.

The contrast with the Labor Party is absolutely stark. We are very proud of our record in relation to prioritising Australians for Australian jobs. We are very proud of our record at job creation—record numbers of jobs are being created. We're not going to take lectures from the Labor Party in relation to this. I, again, emphasise to those people who are in the galleries today or who are listening in on the radio, to look at what the Labor Party does. Don't listen to what they say, because their record is atrocious.

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