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

I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (Australia's Engagement in the Pacific and Other Measures) Bill 2023 and Migration (Visa Pre-application Process) Charge Bill 2023. Across the country, businesses are struggling to recruit enough employees to keep their operations alive. With rising costs in all sectors, the need for reliable, loyal employees willing to engage in work is vital. In my electorate of Mayo, I've been contacted by so many businesses on so many occasions who are deeply concerned about this issue. These employers are at their wits' end, and they have pursued all recruiting avenues to secure Australian workers to fill these positions with little or no success. They range from highly-skilled roles through to fruit-picking. Mayo is very much the fruit bowl of South Australia. We have the cherries; we have the strawberries. We have brussels sprouts. You name it, we grow it in my electorate. The challenge is that a lot of that work requires manual labour. We really are struggling, and we are, unfortunately, in many instances, leaving fruit to rot. Of course, we've six wine regions as well, and all those vines need to be pruned.

When I look at skilled operators, the Laucke Flour Mill which operates in my electorate is a prime example of where they can't get that skilled labour. This business has been trying for months to find a flour miller to join their team, and, despite months of advertising targeting local candidates, the business failed to find anyone in Australia willing to apply. Nobody was willing to apply. It's down in Strathalbyn, and it's a beautiful part of my electorate. Just before giving up entirely, the team encountered two qualified workers excited for the role and eager to start straightaway. One was from South Africa and one was from Sri Lanka. This same issue was relayed to me by a motor restoration business in Mayo, who advertised for five years to find a specialist coach builder for their Adelaide Hills business. The skill set required for the role is rare. There are not a lot of people possessing those skills, and very few in Australia have the skill set. For this business, the only viable option was to initiate a lengthy sponsorship process to bring an employee in from Florida.

These two experiences provided insight into the desperate need for skilled workers to perform a range of roles in our regional areas. It's not for want of trying. Employers right across my electorate, and in Australia more broadly, are seeking to hire and retain staff with the capacity to meet these demands. Sadly, too often this solution is complicated by an inability to access suitable visas or lengthy processing times which place these willing workers out of reach. The skills possessed by these individuals have the capacity to extend and expand our Australian workforce and assist with upskilling local employees, which is really critical. When we know there is a skills shortage, we then need to move heaven and earth to make sure that we can skill up locals to be able to fill those roles.

Across Mayo, many job vacancies occur in regional areas, and it is within our regions that record levels of agricultural production are anticipated between 2022 and 2023. In the recent Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 'Agricultural overview', it's estimated that production will reach $90 billion within this time frame, but, sadly, regional job vacancy rates do not reflect such positive movements. In April last year, data from the Regional Australia Institute painted, I think, a very confronting picture. Regional job vacancies were up nearly a quarter compared to the same time in 2021.

This bill and the subsequent creation of the Pacific engagement visa—the PEV class—provides a mechanism to address these obstacles which threaten the ongoing and successful operation of Australian businesses. For many applicants, the PEV creates a viable pathway to permanent migration for a cohort who have encountered frequent rejection from other visa streams which are regularly oversubscribed. This targeted approach to migration, facilitated by the introduction of a ballot system, will improve efficiency for visa processing times and attract applicants with the skills our regional industries are crying out for. This collective workforce, enriched by a diverse range of skills and lived experience, would not only address immediate challenges for employers in our region but also leave them stronger and better equipped. During a time of increasing global uncertainty, it is pathways to permanency such as the PEV that support the development of robust ties with the Pacific region. It is this close relationship supporting economic, cultural and educational exchange between countries which drive mobility in the region.

I am supportive of these bills, but I feel it's also necessary, as permitted by democratic process, to acknowledge the concerns that have been raised by the opposition and to consider some other proposals. I agree with the shadow minister for immigration and citizenship, who identified the potential for these changes to undermine the importance and value of Australian citizenship by resigning the status to, effectively, a lottery. Having attended citizenship ceremonies during my time as the member for Mayo, I can honestly say I continue to be amazed by the dedication, loyalty and the pure excitement, and the years that it took, to become an Australian citizen and how much that citizenship is valued. It's a celebration for the whole family. As I said, that pathway to citizenship is often a very long pathway. To condense that process down to a simple ballot determined predominantly by chance does feel a little inadequate. However, on the other hand, I also recognise that, when I think about my citizenship ceremonies, I don't have anyone from the Pacific coming and taking citizenship because the bar to get there is just so high. It's impossible for them to do. Whether it is Timor-Leste, Fiji or Vanuatu, I can't think of anyone in my community—we have people working in my community who are on the PALM scheme—but they're not at our citizenship ceremonies. I would love to see, at my citizenship ceremonies, people from Fiji, people from other Pacific islands and people from Timor-Leste.

Many members of the opposition have talked about how the PALM scheme can perhaps provide greater opportunities for permanent migration avenues, because people do become settled here, and we want them to be invested in our community. The opposition did raise a valid concern about associated immediate rights with respect to welfare and Medicare, which could potentially place an increased demand on a system that is already incredibly strained. In that regard, I'd suggest to the minister: could we look at having a review of this in two years? My experience of people from the Pacific is that they are some of the hardest working people. Whether I've been over in the Pacific or I've met people from the Pacific who are in my electorate, I think they are the hardest working people that I have ever met.

In Mayo right now, down the road at Beerenberg, there is a group of people from Vanuatu who are picking strawberries. They've been picking strawberries all summer. ALDI is at the back of my electorate office, and they come into ALDI at about four o'clock every day. They all come in together and they are so happy. You wouldn't have thought that they've just done the best part of—I'm sure—a very long day picking strawberries. They are delighted to be here and they add such joy and excitement to our community.

So perhaps we could introduce some safeguards around our welfare system and have some kind of review so that we can provide confidence to the Australian people that these people are coming here with the best intentions and they are here to really make a go of it.

The decision to permanently relocate and commit yourself to a new life is a very brave one, and, therefore, to ensure this new visa class maximises the benefit not only to regional employers but to those people arriving in Australia, I'd ask the government to make sure that there are support frameworks to ensure a smooth transition, because many of these people—I'm hoping—will go to regional Australia to live, and we need to make sure that those frameworks are there.

That also leads to another issue, another vulnerability, and that's around housing. Our country is facing a housing crisis. I can't remember a time when it was so difficult to rent a home and so difficult to purchase a home. I don't want to see people come here under this scheme and be at risk of homelessness or be treated in a such a way that they're charged well over market rent. They will be a vulnerable cohort, and I think we need to recognise that. As I said, we need to make sure that there are supports in place. We need to make sure that we recognise their vulnerability. For every person who comes to Australia with only the bags they arrive with at the airport, there is a sense of vulnerability. It's the unknown; you just don't know. We experienced that when we came to Australia back in 1973. Mum and Dad were going from one culture to another that was quite similar, yet for them it still felt so incredibly foreign. So I do urge the government to make sure that this transition is as smooth as possible. I look forward to, hopefully, attending a citizenship ceremony in my electorate one day where I say 'bula', where I say 'vinaka' and where I say 'welcome'.

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