Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk a bit about agriculture, because it is something very dear to my heart and because it is also something that is very dear to the economic driver of my community. We have been instrumental—largely under the leadership of Andrew Robb, who is sadly now no longer with us in the parliament and now under Steve Ciobo, the current Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment—in developing market opportunities. Market opportunities are so important if we are going to drive prosperity.

We have delivered the free trade agreement with China, Japan and South Korea. I had the privilege of being in Tokyo and Beijing in the last couple of weeks and I can see the benefits of those agreements. We are working on a good outcome for water. What Minister Joyce is doing is trying to bring communities together and deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in a way that also ensures that there is prosperity for our farmers through access to water.

We are building the freight links. We have recently committed $220 million to upgrade the Murray Basin Rail Project. That $220 million partners with $220 million from the state government to help us get our product to the port from where we grow it in the north of the state of Victoria.

The fourth key element to driving prosperity is access to workers. I just want to touch on the backpacker tax for a little bit. We have a source of workers in our horticultural industry that is made up of some backpackers; it is made up of some Pacific Island workers, it is made up of some locals, it is made up of some contractors. It is important that we have a mix of workers. Ultimately, a backpacker does not take a Australian job. If you get someone who is going to work out in the field and actually pick the fruit and put it in a box, you now have a product that is in a box that someone can market—someone can drive a truck, someone can fix that truck, someone can work as an exporter, someone can be a marketer, a developer and a grower of that product. Without the person that is going to pick the product, the whole system falls down.

I have looked at the backpacker tax issue through four key caveats, and I think these caveats remain fair and consistent. Thirty-two-and-a-half per cent tax fails the fairness test. It gets up to over 40 degrees. You cannot expect a person to be out picking fruit in over 40 degrees and then giving a third of that money to the government. It just fails the fairness test. Also, though, a foreign worker should pay at least as much tax as an Australian. Currently, a backpacker is paying no tax. They take a tax out at 13 per cent, but they claim that back and get no tax. That does not pass the fairness test. So the argument that a backpacker should even pay 10½ per cent tax, which is what the Labor Party are putting forward with the amendments from Jacqui Lambie, means that an Australian worker is still paying more tax than a backpacker. So that does not pass the fairness test.

The third is: the employment of backpackers must be easy to administer. Wherever possible we should be trying to take the red tape and the workload off people who employ people. The fourth is: the workforce numbers must keep coming. This is where I want to touch on the amendments that Senator Xenophon is suggesting to the backpacker tax and to add my weight to those. What he is saying is: currently a person who is receiving unemployment benefits, or currently a person who is receiving a pension, can lose much of those benefits if they go out and do a seasonal work job. I have a strong belief that the best way for a person to get a job is to have a job. So if we can make it easier for a person to be engaged in the workforce, they are more likely to then stay engaged in the workforce.

I think finding a landing of anywhere between 15 and 19 per cent is fair. I think encouraging and making it easier for people to work a season—and many of our pensioners in my patch would come out and work a season—and not lose their benefits would also be fair. I think we need to land this one. Ultimately, the great opportunities there are only realised if we have people who are going to go out and work in our fields. We can grow the economy. We must give certainly. I think, and I hope, the parliament is big enough to resolve this one clearly.