George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the importance of the actions of this Government in abolishing the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) program to ensure that the interests of Australian workers are protected;

(2) notes that a review of the changes by Dr Bob Birrell of the Australian Population Research Institute highlights their significance by making the following points, that the:

(a) abolition of the 457 visa program is a 'game changer' rather than being mere 'window dressing' as was claimed by critics in the media and members of the Opposition;

(b) reset stops the past immigration policy outcome of employers recruiting as many temporary skilled foreign workers as they wanted and then facilitating their transition to permanent residence via the Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186); and

(c) changes go some way to 'redressing the balance between employer interests and those of domestic workers';

(3) further notes that the 457 visa program had become 'bloated out and a proxy pathway to permanent residence' as stated by the head of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Mr Mike Pezzullo; and

(4) commends the Government on its actions which are predicted to reduce skilled migration numbers by more than 50,000, or one quarter, of the total program, thus resulting in more jobs being available for Australian workers.

In November last year I called on the Australian government to abolish the 457 visa program in North Queensland. At that time the region was suffering from a severe downturn in the resources sector. Many highly skilled and experienced workers from the mining industry who found themselves out of work were noticing the high prevalence of foreign workers employed under the 457 visa program.

The 457 visa program was supposed to be where employers turned as a last resort when they couldn't find any Australians qualified and willing to do a job. But locals had lost what little confidence there was in the program. There was a clear view that Australian workers were being displaced in favour of foreign workers. I called for 457 visas to be scrapped in North Queensland because there was a very large pool of highly skilled workers desperately looking for jobs, and there were systemic flaws in that program that meant the program was failing the Australian people nationwide.

This time last year there were more than a million people holding temporary visas in Australia, and most of them held rights to work in Australia. Of those, 172,000 held 457 visas. To put this into context, there were only around 12 million people employed in the country. Now, North Queensland was not the only place where the program was being abused. So it was particularly good news, to me, when the Prime Minister announced back in April this year that the 457 visa program would be scrapped altogether, saying, 'Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we're abolishing the 457 visa.' He went on to say, 'We will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians.'

The Liberal-National government has always recognised that businesses need certainty of labour. The best way to create jobs for Australians is to create an environment where people are willing to invest in new businesses and to grow those businesses. That has meant, in the past, looking for a flexible labour force that can plug the gaps. But any measures taken to create a ready and stable workforce should never come at the expense of jobs for Australians. The primary objective must be to get Australians into the workforce. That's got to be the priority.

In supporting the PM's announcement, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection said:

… I say we'll work with … companies, but if they can't fill Australian jobs with Australian workers, we don't want the default position to be a foreign worker going into that position in the first instance. We want it … as the last alternative, the last option.

People in my electorate in North Queensland took a more cynical view, believing that companies were turning to the 457 visa program as the first option. The Leader of the Opposition tried to play on that previous cynicism to criticise the solution, saying that scrapping the program altogether was only cosmetic. In fact, he went further, saying that the changes were a con job. It certainly isn't a con job for workers in my electorate who now have a better chance of getting a job.

The businesses who have complained about how hard it is now for them to hire a foreign worker don't think it's a cosmetic thing or a con job. For instance, Health Insurance Consultants Australia believe that the reset is such a game changer that they see an opportunity to include health insurance in salary packages to make them more attractive to the local workers. When talking about the visa changes, they said:

… it's clear that they will reduce the supply of skilled migrant workers and make it more difficult to replace skilled employees who are leaving Australia when their visas expire.

This is likely to increase competition for local skilled workers, meaning business will have to improve both their wages and benefit packages in order to compete in a changing labour market.

If the Labor leader was honest with himself, he would admit that he didn't want any changes to have such a meaningful impact on a problem that he and his party created. That's because it was under the previous Labor government that the number of 457 visas blew out of all proportion and were being rorted as a back door to Australian residency. The number of 457 visas in North Queensland reached its peak under the previous Labor administration. It quickly declined after Labor was booted out of office.

During the Senate estimates hearings in May of this year, the head of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Mike Pezzullo, admitted that the 457 visa program had become 'bloated out and a proxy pathway to permanent residency'. That's because employers were not required to demonstrate that there was even a need for a worker of any kind, and they were not required to show that any temporary resident had necessary skills. The program was always open to abuse.

Last month, the Australian Population Research Institute released a report, authored by Professor Bob Birrell, entitled The coalition's 457 visa reset: tougher than you think. The report said:

As is evident, the 457 visa is extremely generous to employers and open to abuse if employers want to use the carrot of permanent residence to tie the sponsored person to wages and conditions below those prevailing in the wider labour market. In addition, it makes a large number of jobs inaccessible to domestic job aspirants, at a time when there is increasing competition for employment.

It's not surprising that the Labor leader doesn't want the reset to fix the problem, but fix it it does through a number of measures, including culling 216 jobs from the list of occupations eligible for the temporary skills shortage jobs, removing the ability of employers to offer a permanent residence carrot, introducing a labour market testing regime to prevent foreigners competing with locals for job, introducing higher fees and training levies on employers and adding tougher requirements for experience and credentials of potential applicants.

The effect of these measures will be far from cosmetic, and it has been far from cosmetic. To quote Professor Birrell's report:

Make no mistake about the significance of the reset. When fully in place from March 2018, the flagship ENS program will fall to less than a third its recent size of 48,250. The number of TSS visas will also fall sharply relative to the current number of 457 visas being granted. Those who think that immigration levels are set in concrete will have to reassess this belief.

It goes on to say:

The reset leaves Labor exposed. It has been inert on immigration policy.

It's hardly surprising that Labor has been inert on immigration policy. Labor and the Greens opened the floodgates to 50,000 illegal maritime arrivals and some 800 boats and, at the same time, lost control of the foreign workers rorting the 457 visa system. This government stopped the boats and it stopped the 457 visa rorts. Meanwhile, half of those opposite want to get in government so they can undo it all and bring back the policies of Rudd and Gillard.

Most of the measures we are introducing to stop the abuse of programs to address short-term workforce shortages are about creating obstacles to employing a foreign worker. By making the process more onerous and more expensive, there is less incentive to try to rort the system. It's still possible for a business that is genuinely unable to find an Australian worker to secure an alternative, but it won't be easy and it won't be cheap. Those hurdles will not be not enough to discourage a business that is in genuine and desperate need.

If we look at this visa reset through the eyes of an employer wanting to access a temporary skills shortage visa, we see a number of obstacles and disincentives, including: the additional visa costs; the additional training levies; providing evidence of labour market testing—that costs a fair bit; monitoring of wage payments so employers can't short-change workers; and employers being named and shamed for noncompliance.

For an employer seeking an employer-sponsored visa, there are just as many hurdles and disincentives, including: TSS visa holders in the two-year stream of occupations being no longer eligible for an ENS visa; employers having to demonstrate genuine need; higher standards of English required for those who are sponsored; the applicant has to be employed by the sponsor for three years, rather than two; and being named and shamed once again for noncompliance on wages. That's the sort of real response that Australian workers expect—a response that puts their interests first.

The Labor Party like to bleat on and on about 457s; I remember they did that back when they were in government. But they never did anything but talk about it. They were full of talk. They had lots of opportunities to fix that problem, but they never, ever did. They just let the problem get worse and worse. We have acted. The Liberal-National government's reset on the 457 visa program is, as I said, anything but cosmetic. It's actually a 'game changer'. Those aren't my words; those are the words of the Australian Population Research Institute. It is a game changer that will ensure Australian workers get first crack at Australian jobs. The game is changing. The winners are going to be Australian workers. It is this government's view and my firm view that Australian workers should get Australian jobs, that any Australian job should be open first and foremost to an Australian worker. Only where an Australian worker cannot fill that role should foreign workers be looked at. That is now the policy of this government. We have dealt with it, and we have delivered—unlike Labor, simply talking about it and doing nothing.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for this motion?

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These changes go some way, and that's what the member for Dawson is putting forward in this motion. These changes prove just how much the Prime Minister is out of touch. When it comes to the government's changes on temporary skilled migration, it's a con of a crackdown, to be honest. We on this side are fighting for what really matters to Australia, and that's getting Australians to have the first crack at local jobs.

In April this year, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection rushed their announcement about changes to the skilled migration program, including 457 visas. This announcement was really a con job. Eighteen occupations were removed from the government's list of occupations which hadn't been used for 10 years. We know the government's really tough on deer farmers, detectives and antique dealers. The Turnbull government's made changes that would barely make a difference to anyone who is struggling to get a local job. In one report, a Department of Immigration and Border Protection official described the government's changes as a 'dog's breakfast'.

The motion before the House seeks to move that the government's abolition of the 457 visa program is recognised as a game changer. Well, the apparent game changer from the immigration minister sent shock waves of uncertainty through business innovation, the education and medical sectors, and the economy. The government even failed to consult with the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration, or MACSM, leading to Ged Kearney resigning from the Council, stating:

The Government's replacement of the 457 visa system was not discussed with MACSM.

It was a rushed announcement due to the lack of consultation. On 1 July this year, after they rushed this through, they had to reinstate jobs on their skilled occupations list, including biochemists, life scientists, microbiologists, music professionals and even horse trainers—all because they stuffed it up the first time. CEOs, chief information officers and university lecturers were all reinstated by the government to the government's medium- and long-term strategic skills list, following an outcry from the business and education sectors.

We need an Australian skills authority—an independent labour market testing authority—to determine genuine needs, genuine shortfalls, and with a proper one, not two, skills shortage occupation list. There needs to be consultation with industry, unions, higher education, TAFE sectors and state and local government so we can get our new SkillUP training fund instead of this dodgy fund those opposite created when they got rid of the national skills partnership and then shortfalled the states and territories. We know they have done that—and this is on top of the $2.5 billion they cut from skills and training, leaving 148,000 fewer apprentices in the country.

Nine days ago, Labor issued a press release expressing our concerns over reports in The Age that employers were now using loopholes and other visa subclasses to bypass the Turnbull government's revised skills shortage list. Not only is this allowing employers to undercut local wages; it's allowing vulnerable overseas workers to be exploited by unscrupulous employers. This subclass 400 visa is the Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa. There has been an enormous increase in the number of these visas, going from about 6,000 a few years ago to 55,008 being issued in the 2015-16 financial year. According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, it's designed for 'short-term, highly specialised, non-ongoing work' and the person must have 'specialist skills, knowledge or experience that is needed but cannot be found in Australia.' The Age reported instances of overseas workers being exploited and paid as little as $1.90 an hour. They also reported an adverse impact on the maritime industry, with a subclass 400 visa being used as a loophole. The Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers described the loophole aptly in a recent letter to the immigration minister, saying:

Some employers in the maritime industry have identified a gap in the system that is as wide as the Sydney Heads.

When the immigration minister removed ship's engineer, ship's master and ship's officer from the skilled occupation list in July, he conceded these jobs were not in a skills shortage and there are plenty of Australians able and willing to do that job. I recently met with officials from the Maritime Union of Australia, in both Launceston and Canberra, who stressed there were local workers who could fill these jobs. The minister is allowing employers to bypass their own rules. We guarantee that we will fix this issue—the government should not be undertaking these changes. The minister should act on this. They should not be undercutting local jobs, bypassing labour market testing and exploiting vulnerable workers. I commend the unions for what they are doing in the sector.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to second the motion by the member for Dawson today. He's a member of parliament who understands the critical importance of putting Australians into jobs. When the Howard government established the 457 visa program in 1996, the Australian labour market was totally different. The visa system was complex and time consuming, and government policy was still focused on integrating Australia into a global economy. Times have changed greatly since the 1990s. We face new challenges with rising travel volumes and border security issues. The government are adjusting to these new economic and security conditions with our game-changing reforms to the visa system.

The 457 system was always intended as a last resort to fill temporary skills shortages when it was first introduced in 1996. It succeeded a system that granted approximately 13,000 visas per year. By 2013, well over 100,000 457 visas were issued per year, by far the largest scheme of its kind in the developed world. It grew exponentially in the six years of the Labor government. They were more happy to let jobs go to foreigners when locals at home were perfectly capable of doing the jobs.

In 2013, employment minister Bill Shorten and immigration minister Chris Bowen issued a record 110,000 457 visas to foreign workers. Among other things, this led to fast-food outlets flying in foreign workers to fill jobs rather than employing young Australians in need of a job. Julia Gillard even imported a Scottish spin doctor into her office on a 457 visa. Under Labor, the 457 system went from being a good initiative in the Howard government to a backdoor pathway to residency. From 2010, half of the 457s eventually obtained permanent residence visas. This was criticised by businesses, trade unions and the like, but Bill Shorten didn't have the courage to do anything about it.

The coalition government has acted on this mess created by Labor, implementing a series of new measures to ensure that Australian workers always come first. When the Prime Minister announced earlier this year that the government would scrap the 457 program, the Labor Party and the media were cynical. But it's clear from the latest figures that the result has turned the tide back in favour of Australian workers. The latest migration statistics reveal that employer-sponsored numbers have now halved since the record years under Labor—down to 48,000, the lowest level since the 1990s. Over time the government's actions are projected to reduce skilled migration numbers by more than 50,000—a quarter of the total program.

The government's plan to protect Australian jobs is underway. In April it halted the eligibility for foreign work visas in a number of job categories, which Labor had granted 21,000 visas to over six years. In July it introduced much tougher English language standard requirements for all permanent entry sponsorship visas. By March 2018 the 457 will be gone and replaced with a new temporary skills shortage visa. Most significantly, the TSS visa application will require labour market testing. Unemployment has long been the scourge of Wide Bay. If a business in Wide Bay is looking for workers, I want Australians who are out of work or have been made redundant to be given the first chance at a job, not foreign workers.

The government is being recognised for this bold new approach to protect Australian jobs. In August an independent review by Bob Birrell of the Australian Population Research Institute came out, supporting the government for these measures. He said:

The reset puts an axe to the … policy of encouraging employers to recruit as many skilled temporary foreign workers as they want and then facilitating their transition to permanent residence …

Reforms to the visa system are long overdue. Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen should've acted when the numbers got out of control, but they failed to and they let down Australian workers. I commend the government for pursuing this positive new change. I will continue to work hard to provide jobs for Australian workers before foreign workers every time.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a ridiculous motion. We're standing here supposed to celebrate the minister's fake crackdown on rorts in the temporary skilled migration scheme. The abolition of the 457 visa is politically motivated and won't work. It's a bandaid. It's replacing one visa with two others and fiddling the occupation list to remove a few that are hardly ever used. The fundamental point is: nothing will change without proper labour market testing. Labor supports proper labour market testing for skilled visas. The government does not. Nothing the government does will make any difference until it accepts its failure and introduces proper labour market testing for temporary skilled visas.

The rorts have not stopped with the minister's fake crackdown, as the shadow minister said. The same problems are just moving to other visas. Last week, Fairfax reported shocking cases of rorts with the 400 visas. Chinese labourers were paid $1.90 an hour and Filipino metalworkers were paid $4.90 an hour, wreaking devastation on what little is left of the Australian shipping industry. We've got clear evidence of positions that used to be filled by 457 workers now being filled by even more exploitable ultra-short-term workers on 400 visas.

The short stay specialist 400 visa is supposed to be for highly specialised workers, where their skills are not available in Australia. The government is very secretive about this visa. Since being elected, the number of 400 visas each year has exploded from 6,200 in 2012-13 to over 55,000 last year, and the experts are predicting even more this year. You may well ask: What for? What kinds of jobs? What kind of work? Well, no-one really knows. More than half are not specified or are in the 'other services' category. Experts say that for bad employers this lack of transparency makes this visa even easier to rort than the 457 visa. The problem is not migration per se. It's not migrants. There's nothing wrong with wanting to stay in the country. It's when businesses rort and misuse the program.

We have had numerous reports of 400 visas being issued by the department in 24 hours. How on earth could they be confident if that's the level of scrutiny given? It appears, from my research, the department are breaching their own Procedures Advice Manual, which says:

Delegates need to be cautious about attempts to engage overseas workers which may have more to do with reducing costs by circumventing local salaries ... than genuine non-availability of workers.

They figure that out in 24 hours, apparently. A senior departmental officer has admitted there is no labour market testing. They just believe what the applicant says and issue the visas like lollies. If the minister wants the department to change their approach, he could instruct them to do so today—but he has not.

More people have approached me. There are more shocking cases in the shipping industry—like Greg, a highly skilled engineer from Western Australia. He has been out of work for 16 months. He'll lose the roof over his head in the next couple of months and he has given up. Greg's wife is Ukrainian and right now they are in war-torn Ukraine, with their four-year-old son, looking for an apartment to try to get skilled work. Meanwhile, the minister has issued 31 400-class visas for officers on the vessel POSH Arcadia to work in Western Australia from August to December 2017, including one for a worker from the Ukraine. This is work that Greg and others could do. Greg goes to the Ukraine, and Ukrainians get visas to work here in work that he could do. On Saturday, I spoke to Michael from Victoria. He applied for this work. He's an experienced chief engineer. He's ready to work in Western Australia or anywhere, but the minister issues 400-class visas instead.

It's also clear these rorts are extending beyond the shipping industry. I have heard of concerns already in building and electrical industries and of IT companies rotating cheap labour through on three- to six-month job lots. There are lower wages and it's also lowering our tax take, because they're not here for long enough to pay much tax. The minister's response to all of this was in the paper last weekend. He said that the mess was all Labor's fault because they introduced the visa in 2012. He put aside the very unfortunate fact that the Liberals had been in government for four years; they presided over an explosion. He doesn't mention that it was the Liberal government that quietly doubled the length of time of this visa, the 400 visa, from three months to six months in late 2014.

The minister's other line is: 'Don't worry. I'm doing a review of lots of visas, so I will fix everything at some point, sometime later on.' Well, kicking the can down the road is not good enough. The minister must deal with this now—pronto, today. I say to him: tell your department to stop issuing the visas like lollies. You could fix this. Call them now. The minister may not be able to get through on the phones, of course, because he has cut so many staff that they're not very good at answering the phones. He's probably got them too busy issuing the dodgy visas. He'd have to write them a letter! The minister must act quickly or more Aussie workers like Greg, like Michael and like Gary will be sent to the scrap heap and have to wait for a Labor government to fix this.

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This afternoon I applaud the necessary reforms to the temporary work visa program that began in April of this year. This is part of the government's overall national economic plan to drive growth and create more and better paid jobs. It's a plan that is getting results, as our economy grew 0.8 per cent in the June quarter. On a yearly average basis, our economy expanded by 1.9 per cent last financial year. That's above our budget forecast and equal with the United Kingdom, the United States and the rest of Europe. The recent national accounts data followed weeks and months of evidence of more jobs, more investment, more wages and more exports. As the Treasurer said in handing down our budget in May of this year, there are better days ahead. This is because there has been a recovery in economic conditions that will drive growth into the future. In regional Australia and in electorates like my own electorate of Groom, there has been and continues to be very significant growth. Australia's agricultural exports are up 18.7 per cent through the year to the June quarter. Chickpeas in particular are doing extremely well in the export market out of Queensland.

Even as the government makes its sensible reforms to the temporary work visa program, it has recognised the need for some industries in the rural sector to have access to temporary workers in times of harvest. The Turnbull government has announced a number of new measures to further support employers and seasonal workers to access the seasonable worker program. Critical safeguards have been built into this program. They include the requirement for employers to fully test the local job market before they can apply to recruit workers. These safeguards are evidence of the tempered manner this government is taking to redress the balance between employer interests and those of domestic workers. The government, on one hand, tightens the rules and regulations that have allowed a pathway to permanent residency in Australia but, on the other, allows industries with genuine need to access skilled workers. This is good policy at work. This is about balance.

The balance that I refer to also includes the responsibility that exists, I believe, for Australians to step up to those job opportunities, because the abolition of the temporary work skilled visa subclass 457 is all about ensuring more jobs for Australian workers. Pat Gleeson, a good friend of mine and general manager of Oakey Beef Exports in the Darling Downs—as well as having responsibility for other meatworks, including that in the member for Dawson's electorate—often expresses concern to me about young Australians not being aware of or not being willing to take up positions in such establishments. These are well-paid jobs, and they were good enough for Pat Gleeson when he started in the meat-processing industry all those years ago. And they were good enough for me, because that's where I started my career as well.

We need to put Australians first in the job market. We are continuing to refine our policy settings to encourage more people into meaningful work. We are ensuring more jobs are available for Australian workers, and that's what these measures are all about. We are encouraging more and more of our young people to look at futures in, for example, the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We are doing this because we are a government that supports work for Australians, jobs for Australians and, of course, a future for Australians. Foreign workers can add value to our nation, but they must supplement, not replace, hardworking Australians, and there must be opportunities for hardworking Australians into the future.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this private member's motion for the abolition of temporary work skilled 457 visas, moved by the member for Dawson. Now, it does go some way, but nowhere near what's required. I will give you an example. We currently have approximately 800,000 overseas workers on temporary visas of some sort, while at the same time we have 700,000 unemployed in this country. When you look at those figures, you can see why this needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed now.

We heard from previous speakers that there was absolutely no labour market testing when this was being worked out—none. You certainly need labour market testing to be able to analyse and work out what's required, and, where there are shortages, to fill those shortages—if there are shortages.

I have raised this issue many times in this place, including when I was here in 2012 and 2013. I have made many speeches on this topic, and I think rightly so. Voters in my electorate come and see me with their unemployed children who have degrees and special skills certificates yet cannot get a job. They give me examples of places where they have done a little bit of casual work and where overseas workers with temporary visas are filling those positions. There's nothing wrong with filling positions when there is a skills shortage or a shortage in a particular area, but I think we need to look at the way that these visas are handed out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with us, in this place, doing everything we possibly can to ensure we have rules and regulations and legislation that says: when there is a vacant position, Australian workers should be given the opportunity to apply and gain employment in those areas. There is nothing wrong with ensuring that the onus is on the employer to prove that they couldn't find local workers to work in a particular job or skilled area.

Back in 1996, one of the first things the Howard government did was dismantle the visa system and the entire way we looked at immigration. Previously there were forms of 457 visas, but employers had to show they had advertised locally and nationally, and only then were they allowed to apply to bring someone in from overseas. They also had to explain why the people who had applied for those jobs were not up to scratch for those positions. I think it is far too easy to dish out these visas. And, even more importantly, I've seen cases—for example, in South Australia—where people were brought over as top-quality chefs only to be doing dishes. They were not paid for months on end and were sleeping on the kitchen floor of the restaurant. There are documented cases where this has been taking place. This is what this does: it opens up a whole range of dangers for people who are brought over by an employer and then have that whip held over their heads—the possible restriction or removal of their visa. This is very, very dangerous.

Regarding shortages in particular areas, in the fifties we did it very well. There were shortages in lots of areas. We brought migrants over and made them full-time Australians, basically, with permanent visas. They went on to fill those positions and help grow the economy.

The government, basically, has just done some window-dressing on this. There is nothing but window-dressing. This resembles the Christmas window-dressing some of the department stores do; that is how much of a non-change this was. We heard last week in The Age that there are employers who have been circumventing the visas and getting through absolutely massive loopholes. The government hasn't abolished the 457s; it's merely changed the name—it's merely given different names and made cosmetic changes. When 18 occupations that have been removed from the government's list of occupations have not ever been used, how is this not window-dressing? Following the government's rushed skilled migration announcement in April, they were besieged by businesses and industry—especially the education sector—saying that they weren't consulted. If you really want to fill the shortages, you have to look at the long term. In this space, we're not training people to fill those shortages. (Time expired)

Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to oppose the member for Dawson's motion, because, quite frankly, it's flawed and erroneous. Although I agree that the 457 visa program has become, as the motion states, bloated and a proxy pathway to permanent residence under this government, I cannot agree with the rest of the motion. I'm not going to stand here and commend the government for removing just a small number of occupations from a skilled worker visa. I'm not going to commend the government for removing a picture framer from a list of skilled workers. I will concede that I'm not entirely aware of how many picture framers there are currently in Australia, nor do I know what the demand is for new workers in this field, but what I do know is that removing picture framers from the skilled worker visa is not going to end the employment crisis, which this government has done so little to solve. This government has revealed a list of occupations least employed as 457 visas, and has axed them. The less that an occupation has relied on a 457 visa, the less of an effect removing them from the list will have. When 18 of the occupations that were removed haven't been used in the past 10 years, removing them effectively does nothing.

Aside from cutting a few occupations from the 457 visa that were rarely, if ever, used, this government's refresh of the skilled workers visa is truly just window dressing. The member for Dawson may deny this all he likes, but it is so true. While he tries to call this a game changer, really all this is is a name changer. There are no meaningful changes that will ensure the local jobs go to local workers. Employers will still be able to turn to a temporary work visa to undercut local jobs, wages and conditions, like they have been for so long under this Turnbull government. The member for Dawson claims that this will redress the balance between employer interests and those of domestic workers, but, as all Australians know, the LNP's definition of balance tends to lean pretty heavily to one side—besides which, I'd like to know just how the government knows what the interests of stakeholders are. Following April's rushed announcement, the Turnbull government was besieged by business, industry and the education sector for failing to consult with them, but it's not surprising; it's typical Turnbull government practice. They seem to think they know best, and that they know what everyone else wants. Member for Dawson, you can't just assume that you know what the interests of employers and domestic workers are; you have to speak to them, to listen, to hear what they say.

I can tell you that Labor has spoken with key stakeholders. We've listened and we've heard. That's why a Shorten Labor government will crack down on 457 rorts and build a skilled Australian workforce. This will reduce our reliance on using overseas workers to fill shortages. Rather than just renaming that 457 visa scheme, Labor will take meaningful steps to make it less necessary for us to rely upon 457 visa holders, and to ensure that it's not a regular and normal employment practice in this country. I think the important part, too, is we recognise that people all over Australia are actually looking for work, and people are doing it tough while they're looking for work—people like those in my electorate of Longman or further north in the Central Queensland area of Rockhampton.

We've also recognised that there are skills shortages in certain industries, and we've made a connection. Labor will help local people get the skills they need to get into work. While the Turnbull government has made huge cuts to skills and training—$2.5 billion, in fact—Labor will establish the SkillUP Training Fund to reverse the damage this government has done to the sector. Education and training is a long-term investment in our country's future, and this government's lack of foresight is absolutely disgraceful. Labor will also establish the Australian Skills Authority, an independent, labour market testing body that will determine genuine skill needs and restrict work visas to only those areas, and we will disallow any labour loopholes in trade deals like the deals with China, Japan and South Korea which the government allowed to waive local labour market testing. While this government wastes Australia's time, Labor's already thinking ahead, and when Labor wins the next election, Labor will reverse the damage that this government has caused and will set Australia up for the future.

Debate adjourned.