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

You've had your turn. The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme was introduced in April 2022 by the Morrison coalition government. It replaced the Seasonal Worker Program, and that came in under Julia Gillard's ALP government in 2012. The Pacific Labour Scheme came in in 2018, when Malcolm Turnbull was Prime Minister. The PALM scheme allows Australian businesses to hire workers from nine Pacific countries and Timor-Leste. It helps to fill labour gaps in rural and regional Australia by offering employers access to a pool of workers—and they are good workers. They are vital workers. They are essential workers. And not only do they add to all components of industry and agricultural endeavour in rural and remote areas of this fine country but they add so much vibrancy to our local communities, and we thank them for that.

If ever there were a diplomatic way to ensure that the Pacific knows that we care—and I know the member for Blair appreciates this too—it is through the PALM scheme. It is through this labour scheme. I say 'labour' with a 'u', labour scheme. When we talk about labour without the 'u'—another bit of a history lesson. I think Labor dropped the 'u' in 1912. For those listening, for those tuning in, they've forgotten about 'you' ever since.

Honourable members interjecting—

I knew that'd get them going! It's like shooting fish in a barrel, really—because they know how true it is. This is the Labor way. They're forcing farmers to offer a minimum of 30 hours a week over four weeks to PALM workers. Farmers will then be forced to offer 30 hours a week every week from 1 July 2024. This is despite agricultural work being seasonal and weather dependent. The member for Braddon knows that. He knows how seasonal and weather dependent the farm he runs and the operation he has in Tasmania are, let alone anywhere else. The new rules do not work for farmers, particularly in the horticulture sector. What if it is too wet to work? We have workers sitting around getting paid for doing nothing.

I appreciate that we have to look after PALM workers; I get that. And exploitation of PALM workers is beyond the pale. I know the member for Bendigo in her contribution, and I'm being a little bit psychic here—not psycho but psychic! I should probably go to that. So I'll say it before she does: you can't exploit workers. No-one should do that. It is so egregious that some people think that those workers are there to be exploited. And, if anybody has any examples of that, please report them, because it is so important. They need to be paid the right amount of money, they need to be given the right conditions and they need to be treated as equals to Australians, because they are.

But you can't also have that impost on farmers, whereby it's going to make them walk away from the PALM scheme. And that is actually happening. It's happening in Queensland. It's happening in my state of New South Wales. It's happening right across the country. Farmers are now determining that the PALM scheme is all too difficult. They can't afford to pay somebody who is not working, and they're walking away from it. You heard from AUSVEG through the member for Nicholls's contribution. That is why this motion is so important. That is why it is important to make sure we get the PALM scheme right.

It's also important that we get agriculture right, and Labor has walked away from our farmers. They've walked away through the changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. They're taking productive water out. That's going to force the price of groceries up. It's going to force the amount of imported food up. We know that the best food is grown in Australia by Australian farmers, and we should thank them three times a day every day when we tuck our knees under the table and eat.

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