Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Interim report of the inquiry into the Working Holiday Maker Program. Obviously, there will be a final report to come, but it was important in the face of the COVID-19 crisis that the committee report on the very important questions relating to: the value of the program to Australia's economy, including tourism, health care and ag sectors; the ongoing impact of COVID-19 nationally and internationally on the program; the potential economic impacts on regional economies due to the disruption of access that working holiday-makers relied upon, especially for the ag and tourism sectors; the capacity, if any, for Australians made unemployed by COVID-19 to fill the labour shortage, among other issues; whether existing visa criteria and conditions related to working holiday-makers are still adequate and appropriate to address the purpose of this program; and the extent to which the program can support economic recovery in regional Australia.

Labor proved again that it was working constructively in getting this interim report on a very timely question out as soon as possible. I will not go into detail on the interim report, but I would like to note the recommendation that the government develop a 'Have a Gap Year at Home' campaign, appealing to young Australians' patriotism to undertake regional work after year 12. The report noted that it would provide young people with work experience opportunities at a time of stiff competition for a diminishing pool of jobs. Strengthening the patriotic sentiment of younger Australians to teach them resilience and discipline and develop social cohesion is a principle I absolutely support, and that should form part of our economic and social recovery from COVID-19 in some way.

I'd also like to note and support recommendation 4's subpoint, which suggests that working holiday-makers' visa conditions extend the northern Australia provision, allowing work in hospitality, tourism and other industries to apply in all regional, rural and remote areas. This is vitally important to NT growers. As I speak, hundreds of workers from Vanuatu are literally saving the mango harvest in the Northern Territory, which is valued at over $128 million. To give you an idea of how great the demand from agricultural producers in the NT was, the local mango industry footed the half-a-million-dollar bill to charter these workers to Darwin. To these workers, our Pacific friends and neighbours, I say thank you, or Tangkyu tumas, on behalf of all Territorians.

There is an ability for more seasonal workers to come from Vanuatu. It would be good if the federal government provided some assistance by way of supporting the quarantine of more numbers of seasonal workers, because the estimate of the sector was that about 600 seasonal workers were required to pick the mangos this season. We have got a lot fewer than that. The pilot has been conducted. What should happen now is that all the pickers that we need are able to come, quarantine and get onto the farms.

Indeed, it's not the first time this year that Australians have said thank you to our Pacific friends and family. Our Pacific neighbours were of course there when the bushfires gutted Australia's east coast last summer. Papua New Guinean troops were there, hundreds of them, with 900 others offered to deploy to fight those flames. Papua New Guineans were there for fire ravaged towns like Merimbula, where I have family, which received $60,000 in donations raised by some Papua New Guinean youths. Vanuatu was there for us with its support of $250,000 to families. I say this not in passing nor as an unrelated tangent but as a matter of national relevance and importance that we can and should never forget.

Programs like the Seasonal Worker Program and the Pacific Labour Scheme are popular for a reason among all stakeholders. The Australian farmers in the first instance, like in the Northern Territory, need practical solutions to chronic skilled labour shortages, particularly in ag. The workers, who in this instance are Vanuatu workers—currently some 170 are in the NT—can make up to nine times the minimum wage in Vanuatu to pay for their children's school fees or education or, in other cases, build their own homes. Their families and communities benefit from the positive economic effects, which have been extensively demonstrated. And they strengthen the ties between Australia and Vanuatu, Timor-Leste and other Pacific island countries at the level of deep personal friendships and connections.

There are legitimate and very important concerns around protections for workers, be they backpackers or Pacific islanders. Some of the working conditions have been known to fall far short of Australian community standards. Labor will always stand up for workers. So protections for workers will never be waived away by this side of the House.

Such programs could be scaled up in future, and there is certainly support and demand from Australians who benefit immensely from the vital support that these programs provide to their businesses. This was especially urgent in the face of the labour shortage triggered by COVID-19 and the hasty departure of over 50,000 backpackers—imperilling the $14.4 billion horticulture sector. The interim report proposes ways to bring down barriers to make these programs more attractive for working holiday-makers, by enjoying more certainty and being able to move across state borders. These proposals are worthy of consideration, as are those for solving chronic labour shortages in the regions, especially in agricultural, by drawing on the talent, skills and patriotism of young Australians looking for an adventure. These are not mutually exclusive propositions but, rather, are elements of a more comprehensive and lasting national response, which we in this place owe to all Australians who draw immense benefit from these schemes and who look to us for leadership.

I want to make a bit of a confession in rounding out my speech, and that is that I made a commitment to various members of this place that I would bring down some Northern Territory Kensington Pride mangos to this sitting of the House. Unfortunately, I got a bit busy before flying down here and wasn't able to do that. But, I will make sure that I do so for the October sittings. I will be going around to the office of the chair of the House of Representatives agricultural committee to offer him some. I enjoy working with him on his agricultural committee. We are doing important work at the moment around forestry plantations. He knows, as I do, coming from somewhere outside of Sydney—and no offence to the honourable member here from that fine city—that sometimes the challenges of working, living and running businesses in regional areas of Australia are not fully appreciated.

We saw that this week when we had the unfortunate situation where the government has been tussling with itself about whether to ensure fair representation for Northern Territorians. Like other regional parts of our country, the people of the Northern Territory have needs and challenges, and they deserve to be respected in this place. They deserve to have fair representation. So I look forward to the Senate vote tomorrow on fair representation for the Northern Territory. I also look forward to that bill, having passed the Senate, that other place, coming across to the House of Representatives where it can be passed. The passing of that bill will guarantee fair representation in this place for Territorians.

I thank all those members who are joining with the people of the Northern Territory—those who don't consider Territorians to be second-class citizens but consider them to be full members of the Australian Commonwealth. We look forward to that bill passing the House of Representatives tomorrow, guaranteeing fair representation for Territorians. The challenges and the opportunities in regional Australia are immense. So we don't want a situation where what happens in this place is only representative of people who live in major capital cities on the east coast; we want a situation where what happens here is representative of the whole Australian Commonwealth. By doing that, we will make our nation a stronger, more productive nation—and that's in the interests of everyone who's represented in this place.

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