Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Claydon, it's nice to see you again. I hope you've been well. I thank the members for Scullin and Sturt for their contributions to this debate on the New Skilled Regional Visas (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019. The member for Nicholls has not spoken yet. We always look forward to his contribution to any debate. Member for Makin, I see that I've jumped the gun. It is unfortunate, but, if you don't mind, I'll keep going.

A diverse and vibrant Australia is a great Australia. A great Australia is one that promises prosperity, economic growth and opportunity. That's why I'm speaking in favour of this bill today. Australia is a land of opportunity. This place we call home is a land of wealth and prosperity. It is truly a great place. It is this parliament's responsibility to create opportunities, not to enforce them, so that those who show a genuine want to take advantage of the Australian way of life get a go. This bill promises prosperity, and it is for this reason that I'm happy to speak in favour of it.

I think of my own family and how we came to be Australians. My father was the son of a Polish migrant, who initially fled Nazi invasion and then fled communist oppression in 1957. When my father arrived in this country he was a young man and learnt English by selling encyclopedias door to door. I will not repeat some of the words he learnt while selling encyclopedias door to door. His mother, my grandmother, helped sustain her family by spending her nights screwing caps onto toothpaste tubes at the Colgate factory in Sydney. Many nights she came home with bleeding fingers.

These new visas being introduced today represent opportunity and potential. The new visas proposed by this bill today show our government's commitment to generating jobs and helping communities. These new visas being introduced today show that this government is serious about bringing economic growth and prosperity into the hearts of regional towns and smaller cities. Most importantly, these new visas being introduced into the House today give people a go.

This bill is a testament to the attractiveness of Australia on an international stage. We should be proud that there is such demand for a life in Australia. This bill shows how lucky we are to have a country where there is free speech, functioning democracy, and economic hope and opportunity for all. Australia has one of the greatest immigration systems in the world, and this bill only strengthens our rural communities. It is imperative that our primary industries be supported. Primary industries are one of the most important parts of the Australian economy, and this bill will only strengthen our rural workforce in keeping Australia's key industries vibrant and lively with strength in numbers. We need to help our primary industries and we need to support our regional towns with skilled workers.

These new visas promise greater prosperity and will rejuvenate the towns and cities that need assistance. The bill is part of the government's current population policy, which aims to reduce the migration cap by 15 per cent and provide incentives for migrants to settle in the regional hubs and small towns of Australia's vast working landscape. Along with strengthening regional jobs and workforces, the Australian government's population policy aims to ease the pressures on our larger cities, better match migration to regional needs and, most importantly, ensure that Australia remains an attractive destination for skilled and talented workers to live in and to enjoy. This approach will provide consistency across skilled visa programs. The regional migration programs will allow more regional businesses to access skills in short supply.

Australia prides itself on being free, fair and open-minded. This bill is centred on a new definition of 'regional Australia', which is simplified to be all of Australia except for the metropolitan areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Perth—areas that have suffered the strain of rapid population growth. The new definition will form single continuous borders, as defined by postcodes, around these metropolitan areas. The bill provides employers with access to a wider range of occupations as well as to priority processing. This approach will provide consistency across skilled visa programs and allow more regional businesses to access through regional migration programs the skills that are in short supply.

These new visas mean that if you have a go you get a go. The visas proposed by the House today highlight innovation, hard work and willingness to participate as the skills that Australia wants its citizens to have. The bill reinforces the idea that you should keep more of what you have earned. Economic freedom in Australia is something that this government is very proud of and it is also something that people around the world are desirous of. Australia is the most successful immigration nation in the world. It is our job, as leaders of this great nation, to ensure we appropriately plan for Australia's future generations.

The New Skilled Regional Visas (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019 provides this government with the opportunity to diversify our regional workforce and help brand Australia as the greatest country in the world to live. The key focus of this policy is to secure greater economic growth for small cities and regional towns and to better target the key public services they rely on. The key benefit of the bill is that it provides motivated individuals and families with a place to call home. Australia is a very friendly country. As a very attractive place to work and live, Australia must always act in a way that incentivises hard work and rewards the individual, which is exactly what this bill aims to do. These new visas being proposed today symbolise a ticket into Australia and represent an opportunity for those who are motivated enough and want to give it a go.

The real benefits of this bill are the numerous economic and cultural benefits for regional Australia. An important outcome of these new visas is that they will refresh the regional workforce. The bill allows regional employers, as well as state and territory governments, greater access to more occupations than the equivalent non-regional visas. The bill promises that the skilled employer-sponsored regional provisional visa will have access to over 450 more occupations than the closest non-regional equivalent visa, and the skilled work regional provisional visa will have over 70 more occupations than other visas. This means that we are diversifying our workforce and increasing the range of individuals that can be sponsored in our regional areas. This is not only a great thing for regional Australia; it is also a big step for Australia's workforce in its entirety. The abundant opportunities that present themselves in these towns and cities promise long-term work and hence a potential long-term solution to the need to strengthen rural towns and cities.

In addition, the bill also promises that priority process arrangements will be expanded to include all visa applicants sponsored by regional employers as well as other visa applicants who will live and work in regional Australia. This streamlined visa process makes the two new visas more attractive to those seeking work in Australia and hence incentivises applying for the new visas over equivalent non-regional visas.

The new skilled regional visas bill not only helps our smaller and more isolated communities; it also aims to ease pressure off the big cities in terms of population growth. This bill even provides extra incentives to potential migrants considering moving to regional Australia. For example, the bill offers five additional points for regional nomination or sponsorship. And for those who think that there is no potential in rural towns—in late 2018 Jack Archer, the former CEO of the Regional Australia Institute, even stated, 'The notion that there are limited available jobs in rural Australia is a fallacy,' alluding to the fact that, at the time, there were over 47,000 job vacancies in rural Australia. Our regional towns and suburbs will benefit exponentially from these new visas, and it is our obligation to strengthen the rural workforce in a way that helps all Australians and Australian businesses.

This bill ultimately means that skilled migrants will stay in the regional centres of Australia for longer, and in this long-term arrangement they will develop and create ties and bonds to their respective communities. Such ties to local communities are made through participation and community involvement. Community involvement is what Australian suburbs are all about. The Australian difference is that feeling of belonging and that sense of identity. Tight-knit communities and strong social capital are what make Australia feel like home to so many of us. Whether it be the local footy team, the Lions club or even your local RSL on a Friday night, this country has something for everyone. By strengthening our regional workforces, this bill will ease the pressure off our congested major cities over time. We have been forced to play catch-up when it comes to introducing skilled migrant visas, due to the failure of other governments in planning for the impact of record migration into Australia.

Separate from these outlined benefits, these new visas also provide extra options for international graduates from regional institutions. The bill states that, for any international student who graduates from a regional campus of a registered university or institution with a higher education or postgraduate qualification and maintains ongoing residence in a regional area while holding their first temporary graduate visa, an additional temporary graduate visa, with an extra year of post-study work rights for international students, will be available. By allowing international students to gain a temporary visa, whilst then working for a minimum of two years in regional Australia, we are expanding regional tertiary education and leveraging the populations of Australia's towns and cities. This policy will create an influx in population and, therefore, will also provide jobs to those Australians who wish to educate incoming students. From here, other services and sectors will grow as population demands will increase all around the country, not just in cities.

Therefore, I strongly support this bill whilst also supporting the Morrison government's policy on population distribution and immigration. Our great nation deserves to be shared with motivated individuals who wish to contribute to local communities and live productive lives. It is only right that we provide opportunities to those who wish to take them.

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