Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, when will the government adopt Labor’s plan for comprehensive spot audits—that include full checks of wages, documents and payslips, and audits of advertising actually carried out in Australia—to stop the 457 visa rorts once and for all?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not accept that ‘rorting’ of the 457 visa system is a proper description of the way the system in its totality is operated. If I had to prosecute a case on this, the first witness for the prosecution against the claim made by the Leader of the Opposition would be the New South Wales Minister for Health, because the New South Wales health department has used the 457 visa system more than anybody else. The second witness for the prosecution would be Mr Eric Ripper, the Deputy Premier of Western Australia, who has practically pleaded with the minister for immigration to let more people in. Mr Speaker, if ever you have seen hypocrisy on an issue, it is this lot opposite in relation to 457 visas. At a state level, they have got ministers running around the country wringing their hands and saying, ‘We can’t get enough workers to run our meatworks, to run the resource industries in Western Australia—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Gillard interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to run the booming industries of Queensland.’ Yet at a federal level you have got the Labor Party running around saying there is mass exploitation. It is as plain as the nose on your face that this country at the present time is suffering the consequences of an exuberant, prosperous, high-employment economy. As the Treasurer said the other day, ‘It’s a terrific problem to have.’

For the 32 years that I have been in this place, the holy grail has been to have near full employment, and we have now achieved it. We have a 30-year low in unemployment. We have a situation where we do not face a shortage of jobs; we in fact face a shortage of workers. That is a magnificent problem to have, when I think of the problems we had with high unemployment—when I think back to when the man who asked me this question, the Leader of the Opposition, was the minister for unemployment in the early 1990s. He basically gave up on trying to get unemployment down. He basically said that the problem was beyond him and that really people should stop complaining. I can remember when my predecessor was Prime Minister, when unemployment was 8½ per cent, the Leader of the Opposition went on the John Laws program and said, ‘You’ve never had it so good.’ That was the measure, Mr Speaker. And now, fast forward to 2006 and, gee, do we have a problem! We have the problem that the economy is strong—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Gillard interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lalor is warned!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and it is prosperous. And it is a strength and a prosperity of which this government is unquestionably proud. Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.

Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Laming interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bowman is warned!