Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a good lead-in to have the member for Bendigo talk about backpackers because obviously she does not understand the necessary labour force that is so critical for areas not only in horticulture but also in viticulture and in the dairy industry. Specifically, the issue of the backpacker tax needs to be fixed up. Initially when this was a very serious issue for the coalition, it was put down that the resolution would firstly be through a review process that would involve consultation right around Australia, reporting back mid-October.

Once those consultations were underway, it became very obvious that this issue needed to be resolved quickly and that is why the government moved in accordance with the evidence that was given at these consultation meetings. The government moved with that evidence to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Therefore, the government jumped to a conclusion that everybody could live with, everyone was happy with—19 cents in the dollar for the backpacker tax rate. The government introduced a bill into parliament and this House passed that bill.

However, we now move over to the Senate and we obviously have the Labor Party and the Greens playing games and apparently joining teams with Jacqui Lambie and others. But even with the Labor Party and the Greens wanting to play their games and even if Jacqui Lambie wants to support them, there are still enough in the Senate to understand the critical nature of the backpacker tax issue. There still should be enough with the Nick Xenophon Team, One Nation, the Liberal Democrats, Family First and Derryn Hinch. If they had any idea of the necessity of this issue and of its time critical nature, then they would be trying to make sure that it was resolved as quickly as possible.

Backpackers right around the world are looking to make decisions about where they end up for their holiday experience as they earn their way around whatever holiday destination they choose. They will be making their decisions right now, and we need to have our share—maybe 200,000 of them—find their way to Australia in the next month. The consequences, if that does not happen, will now rest with the Labor Party and the Greens. Fruit rotting on the vine and its consequences will sit with the Labor Party and the Greens.

It is not just the horticulturalists and the viticulturists that will be damaged by this. There are a whole range of associated secondary industries that are hanging off the end of primary production. In the Goulburn Valley there is a huge amount of horticulture where backpackers are needed to pick the fruit, but preserving companies are sitting right there next to them. As we know, SPC employs well over 500 people. We also have the packaging companies—Visy and a whole range of others—that are there producing the packaging. We also then have the transport industries. All of these associated industries are the biggest employers in the Goulburn Valley. One way or another, they are all going to be reliant on the backpackers arriving in Australia in a timely fashion so that the crops can be picked.

If the games of the Senate spill over and last indefinitely, the message is soon going to get back to all of the overseas countries that are going to be the suppliers of this backpacker workforce. This could have catastrophic consequences, and I do not know whether the Labor have really thought long and hard about that. Quite simply, whilst the issue was sitting with the coalition, the only screams we heard from the Labor Party were to get this thing resolved. It should not be an issue. They understood how critical it was then. Once it has been resolved by the coalition, now the Labor Party try and play their games and try and string this out so that it becomes a bigger issue than it ever needed to be.