Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Keneally and Senator Smith have already outlined, the opposition has put this item up for debate today because of the need to again highlight the gross maladministration by this government, particularly in relation to the Home Affairs portfolio. This is something we have pursued for some time now. I remember in the previous term of this parliament I was involved as a member of estimates committees which explored Minister Dutton's maladministration of his portfolio, including such celebrated examples as the Paladin affair, where we saw hundreds of millions of dollars handed out to a company based in a beach shack at Kangaroo Island with limited oversight by Minister Dutton's department and with limited tendering processes, raising serious questions about where taxpayer dollars had been spent and what processes had been used to ensure taxpayers received value for money.

Here we are in a new term of this government with Minister Dutton again responsible for gross maladministration in his portfolio. It begins with his continued failure to respect the parliament by providing timely answers to appropriate, detailed questions on notice posed by Senator Keneally about serious matters in his portfolio, but it goes to the broader issues of maladministration which are the subject of these questions on notice. In the time available I'm going to deal with only one example of that maladministration which we are seeking information about through these questions on notice—that is, the incredible blowout in numbers of people coming to our country via plane outside the usual processes. We know the government has made a lot of political mileage in recent years over people coming to Australia by boat, but in the meantime we have seen a much bigger problem arise under this government's very nose in the form of people coming to Australia by plane.

Some of you are aware that I have a very long history, both in this parliament and as a lawyer, of defending the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. I join with Senator Keneally in putting on the record that Labor, unlike some members of this government, understands that it is not illegal to seek asylum—and I make no condemnation of the people who do that. But what I do condemn are the organised crime syndicates that you can often find behind the number of people who are coming to Australia by plane without proper processes and then staying on in Australia for a number of years.

The purpose of these organised crime syndicates is to exacerbate a problem that we have seen grow on this government's watch, and that is the gross exploitation of migrant workers from many parts of the world. This arose in the previous term of parliament and it has been going on for a long time. Unfortunately, we do see some unscrupulous operators, in horticulture and other industry sectors, who take advantage of migrant workers. In fact, Madam Deputy President, I know that this is something you have worked on personally both in this parliament and prior to your arrival in this parliament. Unfortunately, we are seeing a growing number of people being brought into this country by organised crime syndicates for the express purpose of exploiting them. They are putting them on farms and in other workplaces and paying them extremely low rates of money—$4 an hour is the sort of figure Senator Keneally was talking about—and forcing them to endure quite horrific conditions.

I will give you a couple of examples we have seen in my home state of Queensland. Fair Work inspectors investigated the alleged underpayment of 22 workers from Vanuatu who were employed to pick fruit and vegetables by a labour hire contractor operating at sites in the Lockyer Valley, Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg—all in Queensland. Ultimately, proceedings were commenced in the Federal Circuit Court, which found that the company involved, and one of its directors, had breached the Fair Work Act by failing to pay minimum wages and leave entitlements. Some workers gave evidence that they had been subjected to very poor conditions through their employment, including inadequate accommodation, a lack of food and water, the withholding of passports and personal belongings, and threats of deportation or police reports if they complained. It is that last point that migrant workers in particular are subject to. It often impedes them from making complaints about their treatment because they live in fear that they are going to be deported. As low as the money they are being paid is, often, due to circumstances in their own personal lives and their home environment, they are forced to stay here earning very little money and sending it back home. They are fearful of being deported if they makes any complaints.

Senator Keneally has referred to the fact that members of the government, including the member for La Trobe, Mr Wood, and the new member for Mallee, have highlighted the extreme exploitation we are seeing of people who are brought to Australia by plane by organised crime syndicates. And this government is not doing anything about it. Why is that the case? It is because Minister Dutton is too busy running his political wedges and playing politics rather than properly oversighting his portfolio. Rather than the maladministration we continue to see from Minister Dutton, we need him to take some action to stop this outbreak of exploitation of migrant workers and exploitation of our borders by organised crime syndicates.

We know that this government has a long history of failing migrant workers. I congratulate the efforts of a number of trade unions—in particular, the National Union of Workers, which is soon to merge and form a new union, the United Workers Union. They have done a fabulous job in standing up for the rights of these migrant workers. But, frankly, it shouldn't be up to unions to have to do this. This is something that has actually been caused by Minister Dutton's own maladministration. He is responsible for this issue. He has every opportunity to put in place the right policies and the right regulatory authorities to ensure that people aren't inappropriately being brought to this country and then exploited with the kinds of conditions that we are talking about. This is another gross example of maladministration on Minister Dutton's part. The sooner he stops playing politics and gets back to doing his job, the better.