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

We used to and we try to use the terminology of ‘skilled migrants’ and ‘temporary skilled migrants’ because we are a migration country. ‘Foreign worker’ is becoming a pejorative that the Labor Party is particularly keen on pushing. For those interested in this point about temporary foreign workers, I encourage them to go to the House of Representatives Hansard and see one of Mr Beazley’s contributions on this point. Mr Beazley actually said that Australian parents were right to be frightened about their children being humiliated and their children being displaced by foreign workers coming to Australia who would work for almost nothing.

In the 21 years I have been in politics, and it is a long time, I have never heard a politician, let alone a would-be Prime Minister, say to Australian families: ‘Watch out for your kids—they’re coming to get them! And it’s the foreign people that are coming.’