Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the Coalition's strong track record of delivering for Pacific Island economies through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, which has been instrumental in setting up Pacific workers and farmers for success;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) there are currently 35,000 PALM workers in Australia; and

(b) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the former Government managed to double the PALM Scheme from 12,500 to 25,000 participants, which furthered Pacific economies and ensured Australian food security; and

(3) recognises that this recent additional growth is due to the previous Government's streamlining of the Pacific Labour Scheme, which ensured a more efficient and safer PALM Scheme, in turn benefitting both workers and farmers.

In moving this motion, I want to emphasise the fact that this is a coalition policy. PALM was introduced in April 2022. It replaced the Seasonal Worker Program, from the Gillard Labor years, in 2012, and the Pacific Labour Scheme, introduced in Malcolm Turnbull's prime ministership, in 2018. When PALM came in, Zed Seselja was the Minister for International Development and the Pacific. It's a pity that the former Australian Capital Territory senator is now no longer in the upper house, but he is certainly contributing to better outcomes in the Pacific in a private capacity.

The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme allows for Australian businesses to hire workers from nine Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste. The PALM scheme helps to fill labour gaps in rural and regional Australia by offering employers access to a pool of workers. I have to say that it's not just in fruit picking, agriculture and meat processing that Pacific island workers come to the fore. It's in aged care, as you would know, Deputy Speaker Chesters, and in hospitality. Being a regional member, you would know that there are many gaps. Indeed, the Regional Australia Institute identifies 80,000 full-time vacancies in regional Australia right now. I see the member for Solomon nodding. He'd know, representing Darwin, just how many jobs there are right across our great nation.

The money sent from Pacific workers in Australia home to their families makes up a significant amount of gross domestic product for their home countries. It helps to contribute to raising standards of living and better health and education outcomes, particularly for children. It helps families to achieve their hopes and aspirations for themselves and their young ones and even to buy a home. As I say, a significant proportion of GDP comes from Australian workers, PALM workers, sending their money back to their Pacific home nations. Once approved to recruit under the PALM scheme, employers can access two cohorts of workers: seasonal workers for up to nine months and longer term workers for between one and four years.

We welcome the 35,000 PALM workers now in Australia. On 27 October last year, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the member for Shortland, said he wanted to see 35,000 PALM workers in Australia over the next 12 months. On 31 October there were 31,500 PALM workers already in Australia. The government appear to have deliberately set themselves an easy goal by giving themselves 12 months to recruit just 3,500 people. When you set the bar low, it's pretty easy to achieve. It's pretty easy to jump over the bar and pat yourself on the back and say: 'Well done. Look at me—aren't I good? Fantastic.' But on 25 March 2021 there were 22,500 PALM workers in Australia. In seven months, 9,000 workers came to Australia. What made the government think that it would take 12 months to get what they were trying to achieve—what Labor set their target at?

Labor are not only setting themselves lowball goals; they're also taking credit for our work. But that's not surprising. We're used to this situation. It was the coalition who streamlined the Pacific Labour Scheme and the Seasonal Worker Program to ensure a more efficient and, I'll have to say, safer PALM scheme. One of the reasons for this recent growth is the fact that it benefits both workers and farmers—farmers particularly. We know that Pacific Islanders are so beneficial in so many areas of endeavour, but it's in agriculture where they really shine. In November 2021 we announced the start of a new simplified and modernised approach—our Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme—to the SWP and the PLS. The new PALM scheme we introduced has additional flexibilities, expanded access to the programs, additional support to boost worker arrivals and bolstered worker welfare measures. This is so important because we want to give those Pacific Islanders the surety that they're going to be safe, their conditions are going to be flexible and they're going to be paid the right amount.

I've been to Vanuatu—a couple of times in recent months—to Papua New Guinea and to the Federated States of Micronesia, and one of the things we also want to make sure is that the right balance is met, because what we don't want to do is take the best and brightest away from those nations and leave them short—leave them in a situation where they don't have skilled or unskilled workers in their own countries doing work for them. I commend the PALM scheme. It is a very good scheme, and it was the coalition government that introduced it.

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