Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker has received a letter from the honourable member for Watson proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government’s use of the 457 temporary work visa to drive down wages and conditions.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 457 system is not out of control. It would be nice to be able to say it was out of control when you see the rorts that are happening, but it is actually worse than that: it is completely within the control of the government and doing what the government wants—driving down wages and driving down conditions.

This government has been hiding behind false claims to avoid confronting that fact. Yesterday, at the end of question time, we had the Prime Minister making claims against the AMWU, in particular against the secretary of that union, Doug Cameron. Only today the union had a meeting with deputy Queensland director of the department of immigration, Mr Mike Kennedy, where it was conceded by the department of immigration that the union had not impeded, had not obstructed and had not stopped in any way the departmental investigation; that there had been no barriers put in place; and that they had not been involved in preventing access to the department of immigration to the 40 Filipino workers who were so clearly being exploited. The exploitation ought to be pretty obvious to anyone, when you have a situation of 40 workers being put eight to a house and individually paying $175 a week rent. That is $175 a week rent going back to the employer for accommodation provided by the employer, eight of them to a single dwelling.

The new extreme industrial relations laws have interacted with the 457 visa system and created this problem. There are two parts of those IR laws in particular that have done this. The first is the way AWAs are now run and the second is the change in the unfair dismissal laws. With new AWAs, what you have now is a system with no no-disadvantage test, no protection—you can have people working side by side on radically different rates. What does that mean for the 457 visa holder? We already know it is bad enough for the young Australian who goes in applying for work and is told: ‘You either sign the contract or you don’t get the job.’ What chance is there for the visa holder who is told: ‘You either sign the contract or you don’t get the visa’? There is no negotiating power there at all.

It gets even worse when fees are brought in. We have found in the last few weeks the situation of Mr Jack Zhang at Aprint, who had to pay $20,000 in fees to be able to get a $38,000 job. And once he had paid back those debts, he was fired. We had the situation of Mr Zhihong Fu, who had to pay $21,000 and also had to sign a form indicating that he would not be involved in any trade union activity while he was in Australia. We had the exorbitant rents being charged to the Filipino workers, whom we have been talking about this week. But at every stage there is one thing happening, and it is one thing that the government absolutely wants—to see wages and conditions driven down.

You only have to see how they have dropped the ball on compliance. Yesterday the department of immigration released its annual report. In that annual report, on page 84, we have the figures for what is happening with 457 visas and compliance checks, and you can see just how much this Prime Minister has changed things. Only two years ago, the compliance checks on 457 visa sponsors were running at 100 per cent. But once this Prime Minister got control of the Senate it went from 100 per cent down to 65.2 per cent. This government want the rorts to continue. They believe in them. They are driving wages down in exactly the way the government want.

Debate interrupted.