Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I address the substantive part of the motion, could I just say in response to Senator Carr that the Senate in its wisdom last night adopted a bill that will help workers in the construction industry. It will attack some people in that industry, and they are the union thugs, the bosses who control the ACTU, who do nothing for the workers. Some of the sanctimonious claptrap I heard last night in the debate—particularly from Greens senators, who for some reason filibustered all the way through the night—was that the bill was about a reduction in safety standards. It has nothing to do with safety standards; it has everything to do with returning law and order to the building and construction industry and getting a fair deal for workers in the industry.

I will move on to the subjects of today, which deal with 457 visas in one case and the Murray-Darling Basin in the other. In relation to 457 visas, Labor should never raise this. As Senator Smith said before me, there were 850 Chinese workers in Australia on 457 visas under Labor's watch and another 374 the next day. The list goes on and on. There are, in fact, fewer workers under 457 visas in Australia now than there were in the days of the 'workers party'—the Australian Labor Party. The most outrageous and well-known of the 457 workers arrived during the time of the Labor government when Ms Gillard was the then Labor Prime Minister of Australia. She imported a 457 worker from Scotland into Australia to run her office. I do not think she did any market testing at the time. I do not think she offered the position to Australian supporters of the Labor Party. She was so bereft of any loyalty or competence in the Labor Party that she had to import someone on a 457 visa to run her office. This just demonstrates that, under the legislation, which was introduced by the former Labor government in 2013, the range of exemptions to labour market testing effectively allowed for anything to happen. It is a fact that, under the Labor Party's labour market testing provisions, an independent review on the integrity of 457 visas found that labour market testing was completely ineffective. This legislation was introduced by Mr Shorten and the Labor government. So anything the Labor Party says about 457 visas can only be taken as a comedy contribution to the Senate.

On the Murray-Darling Basin question, Labor mouths the words about problems there, but unfortunately they never listen to the answers given here. They never listen to the truth about the matter. They never even read the documents and the written answers to questions on notice by the government about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The government has said time and time again that it is committed to the delivery of the plan. Senator Canavan in question time today reiterated that on several occasions, as he has done several times during question time this week. In spite of the government's assurances, in spite of the government explaining in detail what it is all about, the Labor Party continue, as is their norm these days, to make allegations that are patently false in the hope that some lazy journalist will pick them up and run with them as a factual story. This government, unlike the Labor government before it, has nothing to be embarrassed about on its administration of 457 visas or the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.