Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

These visas can be used to allow Australian workers to really enjoy the benefits of this boom. A motor trader in central Queensland told us that he was now able to train a number of apprentices because he had experienced mechanics to train them. But the opposition are still not convinced. They still complain. They want strong compliance on this visa—and so do I, incidentally. I do not want the visa ever to be misused. But what are they suggesting? That we go out into the health sector? Do we really think that hospitals are bringing in nurses to undermine Australian conditions? I do not think so. Seven per cent of uptake of this visa is by nurses. With an average salary of $62,000, it does not sound like slave labour to me.

Do the Labor Party want me to go to the cancer institutes that bring people in under this visa and say, ‘I am sorry. The opposition thinks you are undermining Australian working conditions, and you cannot have the specialists that you bring in.’ Or what about the hearing centres that desperately need people? Do we want to tell the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research that they cannot use the visa? Would Senator Ludwig say that they would be undermining Australian working conditions by using this visa?