Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I won't detain the House long. There are two matters I wish to speak to with respect to the Customs Amendment (Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2022. The first is the unfortunate removal of the 88-day farm work clause for backpackers, and the second is the failure to remedy the longstanding unfair treatment of UK pensioners living in Australia.

Australia's unemployment rate remains at historically low levels—3.5 per cent. It is the lowest rate in 48 years and is effectively full-time employment. That's a good thing in many respects, but it has created an increasingly tight labour market with high demand for engaging and retaining workers, particularly in the regions. Consequently it's become increasingly difficult for employers to find and attract staff. Agriculture in the regions is particularly affected. This information is not new; there are many news stories. Just recently I was hearing about a mango farm in the Northern Territory that could not get workers. All this fruit is rotting on the ground.

I and others in this place have talked time and time again about the difficulty farmers experience in trying to get people to come and pick their fruit and vegetables. To me, it's beyond comprehension that, despite the overwhelming awareness of the need for workers in the region, we've removed one provision that assists our farmers right now—that is, those who are backpackers are required to spend some time on farm. I also think it's brilliant because otherwise we have people come and visit Australia and they spend all their time in the cities and they never get out to the regions. In my electorate, this is going to affect my strawberry farmers, my apple farmers and my pear farmers. It's going to certainly affect the cherry farmers as well as aquaculture and oyster farmers, particularly on Kangaroo Island. In South Australia, Mayo is very much the food bowl. We grow some of the best brussels sprouts and the best leeks in Australia, but we need people to pick them. This provision will make it even harder for farmers to get hands to pick the work.

The other issue I would like to talk about is UK pensions. I'm reminded every month by constituents who receive a UK pension but who live in Australia and have lived in Australia for decades—they have worked in the UK and are entitled to a UK pension—that the moment they receive that pension it is stopped; it does not increase at all as the years go on. I meet with people who receive just $20 of a UK pension because there are no increments. This is really unfair. For more than 70 years pensioners who qualify for the UK age pension but live in Australia have had those pension payments frozen at the level the first pension amount was made. British Pensions in Australia Inc have calculated that the result of the UK freezing the pension entitlement to recipients who live in Australia is estimated to be around $500 million in lost foreign currency transfers into the economy every year, and $180 million in extra payments made by Centrelink because of it.

The policy to freeze was introduced in 1964 when a new UK insurance scheme was set up with improved benefits. Pensioners who had already moved overseas would not contribute to the new scheme, so their pensions were frozen. All UK pensioners now in Australia have compulsorily contributed to the new scheme, but the policy remains. However, there are exceptions. If you emigrated to the United States or the EU, Israel, Philippines, Serbia or Turkey, your pension would continue to lift. This is unfair and should have been remedied by the free trade agreement. Those are the two comments I would like to make: it will make it much harder for farmers, and we really missed an opportunity for Australians receiving the UK pension.

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