Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When we're talking about permanent visa migration, I think we should take a step back and have a look at how things have changed, particularly over the past two decades, compared to the rich history of permanent migration that we've had in this country. The government has made a big song and dance about cuts to permanent migration. It's definitely where they tried to win a few votes in a couple of areas which may not have been much in favour of migration, and there was that dog-whistle politics that we saw during the election. But it's also a distraction from what has actually happened under this government. You cannot talk about permanent visa migration without talking about the explosion in the temporary skilled or temporary work visa migration. Whilst the figure sounds like it's a drop of 30,000—from 190,000 to 160,000—in the permanent visa migration ceiling, there are over 1.4 million people currently in this country on a temporary arrangement who have work rights.

I'll speak on the government's failures in this area in a moment, but I also want to touch on the pathway that people now take to become permanent residents in this country and to become Australian citizens. It's a tough journey these days. It's a complicated journey. Gone are the days post the Second World War where people came out, whether they be ten-pound Poms or whether they be people migrating from Italy or Greece post the Second World War, and we welcomed them and said: 'We have jobs. We have regional communities. We want you to move to and be part of our community.' Fast-forward to what we have in this bill: we have a complex, complicated skilled employer sponsored regional visa where we have no real detail, no outline of the costs, no outline of the employers, of how they apply or of whether they'll prioritise big employers over little employers, no suggestion of labour market testing and no outline of the skills, the preferred occupations or the types of occupations. Will they go to the areas where they're most in need? This is the kind of chaotic approach this government now takes to visa migration.

I am one of many people in this place who's the first in my family to be born in Australia. My mum, a ten-pound Pom, came over on a boat like the former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott—maybe even in the same boat. A number of people came over on boats back in those days. My father came over as a skilled permanent migrant. He was a mechanic and came over here after he had finished his apprenticeship in England. It's a common story for so many in this country. We have a proud, rich history of encouraging invited people to come here when we have skill and labour shortages in this country, not on a temporary arrangement but on a permanent arrangement, and to bring their families with them, to settle up, to integrate and to be part of our communities.

Back then, we helped people with housing. We helped them find a home. We helped them find a job. In my father's case, it was subsidised and he would have actually had to pay back the Australian government if he left before he'd done his time. So, in the past 50 to 60 years, we've seen a radical removal from that common Australian story where we encouraged people to apply to move to Australia, to bring their families and to establish themselves as permanent residents in this country. Now what we see is a lot of dog whistling about that notion, a big hoo-ha about how they're cutting numbers and no talk of addressing of the 1.4 million temporary visa workers that are here in this country. Granted, a huge chunk of those are international students. As we heard from the previous speaker, there's just under a million—about 900,000—international students across our country. Most of them aren't in regional areas.

But let's also be truthful about those international students. Many of them are on a pathway to permanent residency. Many of them see coming here as a student as the first step to settling in this country. We in this place have the privilege to meet people who've made that journey. It takes about 10 years for some of them. They might end up studying two or three degrees. They might end up then getting sponsored for a skilled visa. They might, if they're young enough, also apply for a backpacking visa—work rights to stay here—eventually, hoping to get enough points to stay in our country. They see themselves as Australians already, particularly if they've been here for 10 years and if their children have been here. But it's a very different process and it's a very different experience to the one that many others have enjoyed throughout our history.

These international students, too, are quite often exploited. It could be their first experience when they arrive in this country. They're not just here to study. Many of them, desperate to pay their study costs, are exploited by terrible employers and labour hire companies. They work in industries like cleaning and hospitality. Report after report has told this government of this worker exploitation yet they've done nothing. They set up a taskforce, but they've not yet implemented the recommendations of their own taskforce.

Our international students are not being treated well in this country by some universities, but more so by employers—people who do the wrong thing by these workers. It's not just the big high-profile cases that we have seen, like what's happening with Dominos or what's happening in our service stations; we have also seen smaller operators exploit international students who have work rights.

The government has also failed temporary workers who fall into the backpacker category. It appears their only solution to one of the labour crises that we have in horticulture is to increase backpacker numbers. Let's just remember for a moment that backpackers aren't required to work in agriculture unless they want to stay for a second year. Then they do the 88 days. This program has been so successful—I say sarcastically—that #88daysofslavery is the hashtag for this program. That is because so many people here as backpackers—working holidaymakers—experience that 88 days as slavery. This is the government's record on helping people into the regions to help with labour shortages. Some of these backpackers speak out bravely about their experience. The smart ones, the ones who have a good grasp of English, tend to find the really good employers. Unfortunately, they are literally taking jobs away from people in those regions who might work.

You will find Irish backpackers working at Parmalat, when there are local workers wanting those jobs. You will find Irish, English and other European backpackers working in Shepparton in the fruit-packing business which runs for 52 weeks of the year—a full-time job. Then you will find backpackers who come from countries where they might not be aware of our rights and obligations in this country, who are being ripped off and exploited by horrible labour hire companies, and quite often the farmer is also ripped off. In one case we heard about last week, temporary workers, working for a labour hire company, were told that the first three bins that they picked—they are on a piece rate—go back to the farmer. The farmer says: 'I don't see that money. I've paid for those bins.' The labour hire person in the middle just takes off with the money—phoenix—and comes back the next day.

These are some of the challenges we have in the regions when it comes to visas and this government and their inaction to do anything about it. I also need to mention their failure to really explore, expand and fix up the problems with the seasonal worker visa. Granted, they have bounced a few dodgy labour hire companies. But I put this challenge to the government: employers in the bush, the regional ones, have the choice between a backpacker, who they can hire, fire and turn over through labour hire, and a seasonal worker, where they have to pay award wages, find them accommodation, help fly them over here, and provide the pastoral care. Fewer and fewer of our regional employers are going for the seasonal workers through the seasonal worker program, because they see it as too expensive; there is a cheaper option. This is some of the cynicism that occurs in the bush. This is what this government has not cleaned up.

I should say it is not everyone in the bush, because I know that there is a real skills shortage in the regions. I have met with many councils, including many in my own electorate, and there are many employers desperately calling out for workers. But I highlight the challenges that we have because the bush has become a place that's not attractive to work. Because of this government's failure to crack down on exploitation, a lot of migrant workers are fearful to move to the bush. They don't think the jobs are going to be there and they don't think that they're good jobs because they hear of the exploitation that occurs in some workplaces that this government has failed to crack down on.

One of the other reasons people aren't moving to the regions, and why they end up in the cities—and it's really basic—is the lack of services. They come to Australia and they start working but there's a lack of services in the bush. There is this idea that you can just force people to live in the regions without services. There are people who grow up in the regions and then move to the cities because of the lack of services. I'm quite fortunate. In the Bendigo electorate, we have a big regional town, Bendigo. Bendigo is able to service our region—our south and our north. But in many other parts of regional Australia you have to drive beyond an hour to get support. So simply forcing people out to the regions isn't necessarily going to solve the long-term regional people drain that is occurring.

In their own visa here, the government are saying that people will stay for three years. There's no evidence that those people will stay longer than three years if you don't fix the services problem that we have in the regions. Take the township of Nhill, where Luv-a-Duck recruited a number of Karen humanitarian visa workers to come and live in the community. They loved the work. They enjoyed working for the employer, but the council and the community didn't have the services available for so many new young families. There were no maternal health services and no childcare services. So, a few years on, despite this great example of an employer working to hire recently arrived workers, a lot of the workers disappeared because there were no services. The government have not set out in this bill how they're going to have those services established in the regions to support new migrant workers. This is the real failure of the government. They put a lot of policy and a lot of ideas out there that are based on soundbites and what they think will win them votes, not actual policy that will deliver long-term change.

I am in this for the long haul, with a lot of the people in my community, and I'm desperately looking for a policy process so that, when people arrive in this country, they are encouraged to move to the regions and there are services there. We know that there are jobs there, but highlight the good jobs. Let's kick out the dodgy employers who are giving our regions a bad name. Crack down on that exploitation. Let's give people a real opportunity to develop roots so that they can stay. But, if the government think that what they are proposing, simply offering a three-year visa, is enough for people to stay, bring their families and settle down, they are wrong. We will have people doing the commute, taking a job in the regions and establishing a home, but their real roots and family will be back in the cities. That is not enough. We have to be genuine and serious about making sure that we grow the opportunities.

Whilst Labor support this bill, we have a number of questions that we've raised. I have in this contribution highlighted to the government that they really genuinely have to work with regions on this long-term solution, not just for migrants but for all Australians. There are great opportunities in the regions if we work together. People leave the regions because of a lack of services and a lack of support, regardless of their visa status.

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