Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (Senator Vanstone) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to the 457 visa program.

Today the minister was asked a great number of questions in relation to the government’s 457 visa, which is the visa the government says it has as a result of the skills shortages. It is a visa that is supposed to be about skilled workers and filling vacancies that cannot be filled by Australians. What we know from the minister’s answers, from her public statements and from her failure to answer a number of questions is that there is a vast gap between the government’s rhetoric—