Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition supports the measures contained in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Australia's Engagement in the Pacific) Bill 2023 to provide assistance for family members of long-term Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme workers. The PALM scheme was introduced in April 2022 by the Liberal-National coalition government, allowing Australian businesses to hire workers from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. It has helped fill labour gaps in rural, regional and remote Australia by offering employers access to a pool of workers—diligent workers, good workers, reliable workers. It also allows Pacific and Timor-Leste workers to take up jobs in Australia, to develop their skills and to send home income to support their families and communities. For some Pacific island nations, that money, that remittance, is a significant part of their country's gross domestic product and economic activity. During the pandemic, the coalition managed to double the size of the PALM scheme from 12½ thousand workers to 25,000 workers to support Pacific economies as well as—most importantly—Australia's food security.

It is important to consider these social services amendments. We have held numerous engagements with representatives of countries which provide large numbers of PALM scheme workers and with the families themselves, including last year during the bipartisan visit to the Pacific. I went there with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the member for Shortland, Pat Conroy, and the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Birmingham. We heard genuine concerns being raised about the extended absence of family members whilst they were working in Australia. The pilot project to allow 200 families to join long-term PALM workers in Australia is welcome news. I note that in information provided by the government—and I appreciate it—it is expected that the trial will initially focus on 200 families. They are partners and dependent children of long-term PALM workers, long term being those with visas of more than 12 months and up to the four-year maximum.

I appreciate the frank discussions that I had yesterday with the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Minister Giles, and Minister Conroy about this bill and others to make sure that we do the right thing not just for Australia but for the Pacific nations. It is reasonable to expect that many of these families that this bill covers will have younger children. The payments provided to families by this bill are those focused on the costs of raising children, so family tax benefits A and B and associated benefits and the child-care subsidy. The government has advised in briefings on this bill that Medicare will also be provided, although that is through ministerial discretionary power rather than being required in this bill. While those on family accompaniment—the partners and dependants of PALM workers will be temporary visa holders—it is important that they be provided with support to help with the costs of raising children while they are here in Australia.

The coalition hopes for this pilot project's success—we really do—as it has the potential to provide benefits for all of those involved in PALM. It will help employers who rely on a stable pool of workers across a range of sectors, not least of which are horticultural and agriculture and, as I mentioned, food security in regional Australia. It will help PALM workers overcome the impact of being absent from families for long periods, something that in itself risks workers considering returning home sooner than they otherwise would, which would impact not only employers but the workers' own income streams and remittances that they send back home. Of course, for partners and dependants being together brings obvious benefits, and family is very important to Pacific nations and to Pacific communities. I appreciate that, and I know the minister appreciates that. Importantly, partners will have work rights and, depending on individual family circumstances, it is likely that employment opportunities will be available through PALM and, in many cases, at the same workplace as the primary visa holders, given that PALM employers will be involved in the pilot.

PALM has been a great success, a resounding success. I would like to note a few examples of this success, not the least of which were during the Lismore floods. In March 2022, Fijian PALM workers arrived in Lismore, New South Wales, to work at a local meat-processing site. They had barely settled in when the flood warnings came. Without a second thought, without so much as even considering their own safety or anything else, they jumped in to support emergency evacuation efforts, carrying people and animals from rescue boats. That's the Pacific way. It does come down to the basic human instinct to help someone in need, but it is writ large in Pacific islanders. It is.

Other examples include Australian regional and remote community services currently employing a number of PALM workers from Samoa and the Solomon Islands in Alice Springs in personal care, cooking, cleaning and maintenance roles. A cultural support staff member has helped them connect with community and culture and settle into their new jobs and lives in Central Australia. That's to be commended.

A young man named Clifton joined the PALM scheme to help his family's future. An unexpected promotion has given him the skills to move in a new career direction. After just a fortnight, a sous chef suggested he be promoted to the role of pizza chef, preparing and cooking pizzas for guests in the wood-fired oven. Clifton hopes to turn these new skills into business opportunities in Vanuatu. That is just one of countless stories of how Pacific islanders called on to do a job, called on to participate in the PALM scheme, go way above and beyond their first calling to help Australia out, to help themselves out and, ultimately, to help out their communities back home and build a better future for themselves and their families. It is a credit to them that that is what happens.

I've had many people come into my office and tell me of barbecues they've hosted so that employers and workers can get to know one another better, and that's fantastic. I've been told of the sharing of songs and hymns during staff meetings to ensure that Australian employers understand and respect the cultural values of our Pacific neighbours, Christianity being very strong in the Pacific region. They have played rugby league and rugby union on our local regional teams, and many of the successes and premiership triumphs belong, yes, to Australians in some degree but in some instances largely in part to the Pacific influence—the entertaining way they throw the ball around and the amazing robust ability they have to push those scrums and to get that ball across the line.

Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I bet it reminds you of your youth!

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does it remind me of my youth? It doesn't at all! I was probably the worst footballer that Junee ever exported, Laurie Daley being the best. But I'll move on!

The things that bring our nations closer together are our love of rugby league and rugby union and our shared culture and religion. They are the things that bind us together. It is something that makes us uniquely Australian and Pacific. Of course, the Pacific islands love the State of Origin. Unfortunately, all too many of them support Queensland!

PALM is providing enormous benefit to Australia—to workers, families, wider communities and workers' home countries. We've heard many stories about how PALM worker remittances help build housing for families and improve access to health and education services in home countries. Health is so important. I know when I went to PNG it was such a struggle for women to get cervical cancer treatments. I was glad I was able to do something in that regard to bring those vaccinations and those treatments on sooner such that they don't need to be having Third World medical services and treatments when they are on our very doorstep. I say thank you to the government for listening in that regard.

These outcomes are a positive for all the partnerships that belong in the PALM sphere, with Australia and our Pacific island nation neighbours and partners working together cooperatively and collaboratively. The PALM scheme was and still is a lifeline for Australian businesses and also a vital option for workers in the Pacific during COVID. I shouldn't say that in past tense because COVID is still with us. It is still, unfortunately, afflicting many and it is still, unfortunately, taking lives. We work through it, and we work together with the Pacific nations on it.

I well recall, when I sat in those meetings with the then Prime Minister, with the then Treasurer and with the then health minister—the former member for Flinders—the efforts of those people in particular. The former Treasurer, the former member for Kooyong, was the best Treasurer we've had in recent times. I say that knowing the member for Cook was in those meetings, too, and he was a pretty good Treasurer as well, but the former member for Kooyong should still be with us. I remember the efforts that they went to to make sure that the vaccinations were available in the Pacific island nations, and I can remember the absolute commitment by the member for Cook and the former members for Kooyong and Flinders to make that possible and to make that happen, and that saved lives. Yes, it came at a cost, but what cost do you place on a life?

I am so pleased and proud to have served with those people—and to still be serving with the member for Cook—for what they did for the Pacific during those very, very dark days. Most people will never know about those dark days, but, trust me, those meetings were pretty grim, and those members of parliament at that time stood up magnificently and they supported the Pacific like never before. During the pandemic, as other countries shut their borders, I'm proud that Australia continued to welcome those workers to our shores because it was mutually beneficial for both our economies.

On the second part of this bill relating to the Pacific engagement visa, PEV, the coalition will reserve its judgement pending the outcome of negotiations which are ongoing with the government on the mechanism by which the government seeks to operate the PEV. The coalition's view on the proposed ballot is well known, but we appreciate that the government is thus far indicating a willingness to work with the coalition on alternative mechanisms which do not provide immediate permanency through a random ballot selection process. We hope these negotiations can conclude constructively in the interests of Australia and those Pacific island nations which seek to be part of the PEV along with Timor-Leste. I thank the House.

Debate adjourned.