Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Cunnamulla; I was not far off. You will recall, because you are a western Queenslander, the town of Charleville. It relied heavily on wool. When the wool crash came in the early nineties, the whole town went into a tailspin. There were vacant shops, vacant houses and there was unemployment. It was terrible. The town was just holding on by its fingernails. Because necessity is the mother of invention and there were a number of feral goats around, the graziers decided that that was their last hope—they would have to farm the goats. From that developed an abattoir that employs 140 people.

Senator Ludwig, if you can give me the name of a meatworker who wants a job at award wages, he can be on the chain tomorrow. If he can get out to Charleville, he will be employed. The owner-manager of that abattoir has spent $14,000 in the last month trying to attract meatworkers, and he cannot. I declare my interest: I have a shareholding in an abattoir at Kilcoy. Kilcoy are employing 457 visa holders, as I believe everyone else is in the meatworks industry. Whether it is the banana industry or the meatworks, people are just flocking to the big money in the mining industry—and why shouldn’t they? Good luck to them. They are leaving vacancies behind and those vacancies are being filled by 457 people.

If those 457 visa holders were not allowed in Charleville, that meatworks could not operate. They would not be able to put 140 people on the floor. That meatworks in Charleville has twenty 457 visa holders. They have come from Vietnam, and they have been accepted by the town as part of the town. Their kids go to the Charleville high school and their wives are part of the community. The community has welcomed them because they know without them they would not have an abattoir that pulls I forget how many millions of dollars into the town of Charleville and it would be back to being broken down, the way it was immediately after the wool crash.

If those 457 visa holders think they are being exploited, they can go and get a job somewhere else. If they think that they are not being paid properly, they can go and get a job somewhere else. But they are paid the award wage and they are paid overtime and holiday pay. Anyone, including you, Senator Ludwig, who wants to go there would be welcomed. I am sure that they would be prepared to show you the books. That is just one example of how these 457 visas are helping rural and regional Australia. I believe you could almost do that sum over in Western Australia—and certainly around Queensland.

So, Senator Ludwig, what you are saying about the government is completely untrue. The government have done everything in their power to encourage people to get into trades. They have opened trades schools. But I am not going to blame the Labor government and the 13 years they were in office. People wanted their little darlings to have a university degree. They all thought everyone could go to university. Consequently, no-one took up trades. You were a second-class citizen if you were a tradie. Now you are one of the elite. Tradesmen have come into their own. They are sort of the new elite. They are the big money earners. You only have to stand by the boat ramp at Redland or Cleveland to see a boat worth $80,000 or $90,000 on a trailer pulled by a big four-wheel drive with ‘Fred Bloggs, Plumber’ painted on the side. Because he has the skills, he is earning big money. It is a question of supply and demand.

The 457 visas are terrific. Rural Australia wants them. When you get out into the smaller towns, the Vietnamese—or wherever else people come from—are accepted. They fit into the community. The community welcomes them. It is the only way we can sustain our productive industries, our meatworks or our haul-outs for cane. If you take those visas away, you will stall rural and regional Australia.

Therefore, I ask you to not simply get your riding instructions from the unions on AWAs and 457 visas. You come in here dutifully repeating the message that the union organisations give to you. But if you care to make yourself available for a week, Senator Ludwig, I would be more than happy to take you around and show you some factories so that you can see some of the benefits that 457 visas are giving to rural and regional Australia.