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

The coalition supports the measures contained in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Australia's Engagement in the Pacific) Bill 2023 to provide assistance for family members of long-term Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme workers. The PALM scheme was introduced in April 2022 by the Liberal-National coalition government, allowing Australian businesses to hire workers from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. It has helped fill labour gaps in rural, regional and remote Australia by offering employers access to a pool of workers—diligent workers, good workers, reliable workers. It also allows Pacific and Timor-Leste workers to take up jobs in Australia, to develop their skills and to send home income to support their families and communities. For some Pacific island nations, that money, that remittance, is a significant part of their country's gross domestic product and economic activity. During the pandemic, the coalition managed to double the size of the PALM scheme from 12½ thousand workers to 25,000 workers to support Pacific economies as well as—most importantly—Australia's food security.

It is important to consider these social services amendments. We have held numerous engagements with representatives of countries which provide large numbers of PALM scheme workers and with the families themselves, including last year during the bipartisan visit to the Pacific. I went there with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the member for Shortland, Pat Conroy, and the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Birmingham. We heard genuine concerns being raised about the extended absence of family members whilst they were working in Australia. The pilot project to allow 200 families to join long-term PALM workers in Australia is welcome news. I note that in information provided by the government—and I appreciate it—it is expected that the trial will initially focus on 200 families. They are partners and dependent children of long-term PALM workers, long term being those with visas of more than 12 months and up to the four-year maximum.

I appreciate the frank discussions that I had yesterday with the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Minister Giles, and Minister Conroy about this bill and others to make sure that we do the right thing not just for Australia but for the Pacific nations. It is reasonable to expect that many of these families that this bill covers will have younger children. The payments provided to families by this bill are those focused on the costs of raising children, so family tax benefits A and B and associated benefits and the child-care subsidy. The government has advised in briefings on this bill that Medicare will also be provided, although that is through ministerial discretionary power rather than being required in this bill. While those on family accompaniment—the partners and dependants of PALM workers will be temporary visa holders—it is important that they be provided with support to help with the costs of raising children while they are here in Australia.

The coalition hopes for this pilot project's success—we really do—as it has the potential to provide benefits for all of those involved in PALM. It will help employers who rely on a stable pool of workers across a range of sectors, not least of which are horticultural and agriculture and, as I mentioned, food security in regional Australia. It will help PALM workers overcome the impact of being absent from families for long periods, something that in itself risks workers considering returning home sooner than they otherwise would, which would impact not only employers but the workers' own income streams and remittances that they send back home. Of course, for partners and dependants being together brings obvious benefits, and family is very important to Pacific nations and to Pacific communities. I appreciate that, and I know the minister appreciates that. Importantly, partners will have work rights and, depending on individual family circumstances, it is likely that employment opportunities will be available through PALM and, in many cases, at the same workplace as the primary visa holders, given that PALM employers will be involved in the pilot.

PALM has been a great success, a resounding success. I would like to note a few examples of this success, not the least of which were during the Lismore floods. In March 2022, Fijian PALM workers arrived in Lismore, New South Wales, to work at a local meat-processing site. They had barely settled in when the flood warnings came. Without a second thought, without so much as even considering their own safety or anything else, they jumped in to support emergency evacuation efforts, carrying people and animals from rescue boats. That's the Pacific way. It does come down to the basic human instinct to help someone in need, but it is writ large in Pacific islanders. It is.

Other examples include Australian regional and remote community services currently employing a number of PALM workers from Samoa and the Solomon Islands in Alice Springs in personal care, cooking, cleaning and maintenance roles. A cultural support staff member has helped them connect with community and culture and settle into their new jobs and lives in Central Australia. That's to be commended.

A young man named Clifton joined the PALM scheme to help his family's future. An unexpected promotion has given him the skills to move in a new career direction. After just a fortnight, a sous chef suggested he be promoted to the role of pizza chef, preparing and cooking pizzas for guests in the wood-fired oven. Clifton hopes to turn these new skills into business opportunities in Vanuatu. That is just one of countless stories of how Pacific islanders called on to do a job, called on to participate in the PALM scheme, go way above and beyond their first calling to help Australia out, to help themselves out and, ultimately, to help out their communities back home and build a better future for themselves and their families. It is a credit to them that that is what happens.

I've had many people come into my office and tell me of barbecues they've hosted so that employers and workers can get to know one another better, and that's fantastic. I've been told of the sharing of songs and hymns during staff meetings to ensure that Australian employers understand and respect the cultural values of our Pacific neighbours, Christianity being very strong in the Pacific region. They have played rugby league and rugby union on our local regional teams, and many of the successes and premiership triumphs belong, yes, to Australians in some degree but in some instances largely in part to the Pacific influence—the entertaining way they throw the ball around and the amazing robust ability they have to push those scrums and to get that ball across the line.

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