Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also want to speak briefly on the same report. Senator Sheldon has quite eloquently articulated some very good points around the reliance and overreliance, I think, on temporary migration in this country. In light of the last 12 or 18 months, this country does need to have a good, hard look at itself about where it is heading in terms of temporary migration. I'm a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration. The interim report that's been tabled here today in the Senate is on Australia's skilled migration—or our lack of skills and, as Senator Sheldon also mentioned, deskilling Australians. Ultimately this is what this is about.

Recommendations were put forward by government senators and government members of the committee in what can only be described as a very hasty, short, rushed process. Three days for an inquiry—three days that we had to jam-pack with witnesses. It was quite obvious, having been to some of those hearings—I couldn't go to all the hearings over those three days, because it was all set up and rushed very quickly—even the department secretaries and representatives that appeared before the inquiry weren't in a position to answer questions they were asked by Labor senators and members on the day. They had to take quite a few answers on notice because they weren't prepared. It just shows that this government already had, in my opinion, predetermined outcomes that they wanted to see as part of this report in time for budget week. I guess we will have to wait and see what comes out of the budget later tonight.

I've been a member of that committee since I was initially appointed and then elected into this place. There's always been goodwill and bipartisanship on that committee. Unfortunately, that bipartisan nature has been thrown out the door. Certainly we've cooperated with the government on a lot of matters, but that last report really did put a bad taste in our mouths. Given how important migration is to this country—migrants have built this nation. My parents came here back in the late 1960s. There would be a lot of stories in this place about migrants and the great success story of what makes Australia such a great nation: our multicultural and diverse community. We should be very proud of our migration history. Sadly the government has chosen to play politics with this. I would just hope that once the final report is tabled in this place later in the year we can actually say some more complimentary things, but this was a hasty and rushed process just to satisfy the government's budget response later tonight.

Labor senators and members were left with no choice but to write a dissenting report. It was probably one of the strongest dissenting reports I've seen in my time in this place, and rightly so. There was no doubt. We should make no mistake about this: the recommendations in this report constitute an attack on working people, whether they're Australians or migrants, but particularly locals in Australia. Should the recommendations be adopted by the government, they will deliver poorer outcomes for Australia and Australian workers. As I've said, Australia is a migration nation, and proudly so.

Labor does oppose some of the recommendations, and I want to go through some of these now. The recommendations in the report would see us undermining labour market testing, which will make it harder for Australians to find a job. Right now unemployment is still high, though there is a lot of work out there. A lot of witnesses that appeared, including the Business Council of Australia, openly said that they would rather have migrants come into Australia than look for locals to fill those jobs. There are just so many roles right now.

We also oppose the effective scrapping of the Skilling Australians Fund, which would make it harder for young Australians to get the skills that they need. This touches on the point that Senator Sheldon made: we're effectively deskilling not just current Australians but future Australians as well.

We are also opposed to the immediate expansion of the skills shortage list, which will put the jobs of Australian hospitality workers, tradespeople, people working in manufacturing and seafarers at risk. Why? Why would we want to do that right now? Given the geopolitical environment that we're in and given the experience that we've all experienced in the last 12, 18 months with COVID, why on earth would we want to start to de-skill and put the jobs of many people at risk in manufacturing, seafaring, transport, retail, hospitality, tourism, all these industries?

An honourable senator: Hairdressing.

Hairdressing. We even have cooks on the list. Apparently we don't have enough cooks. Why aren't we training people? We have TAFEs; we have universities—excellent institutions. Let's put the money into those bodies, into those organisations that are skilling people up. Now is the time to do so. At a time when Australians are doing their best to get back on their feet or simply to get by, this is the 'support' that this government has promised to offer them. These recommendations are not appropriate and, if anything, are counterproductive, it is clear from the way in which this inquiry has been conducted—the pace and the lack of appropriate consideration of evidence provided.

I know those opposite might take issue with this but, if we are to have an inquiry and it is to hear all sides of the story, let's not just have witnesses on the employer side. There was not one trade union movement representative. There was not one body that represented the workers or the migrants or the settler services that offer support to migrants in this nation—not one. Yet we had the department and we had plenty of employer associations. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's have a fair and balanced approach, fair and balanced evidence, before any inquiry in this place. It was so one-sided and that made it laughable, quite frankly. It is clear, sadly, how this inquiry was conducted. In some ways I guess it represented a wish list from those opposite on migration reform.

I want to make it abundantly clear that Labor does not support the recommendations in the report and that is why we submitted a dissenting report. We oppose each and every one of these recommendations and we will continue to oppose them. I really do hope that the government and members of the committee take note of what I and others have said about this report, not just here in the Senate but also in the House of Representatives, because we do want to work with government to make sure that we have a strong migration system, one that does have benefits for our economy, that does benefit Australian workers, but we can't do so when the government starts ripping the guts out of our industrial relations system, starts ripping the guts out of the pay and conditions of Australian workers.

We are in very dangerous times at the moment, very interesting times where we don't know where we could end up in the next 12, 18 months with COVID yet we need to provide that confidence to Australian workers right now, not the other way around. Again, we oppose the recommendations and we will continue to do so, I'm sad to say. We are trying to offer the government an opportunity to work with us. Come and work with us, and I guess we will see where that goes over the coming months once we do submit a final report.