Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank senators for participating in this debate on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Australia's Engagement in the Pacific) Bill 2023 and I would like to offer some concluding remarks. This bill will establish legislative power to extend a range of government supports and benefits to Pacific engagement visa holders and eligible Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme families. The bill will provide immediate access for Pacific engagement visa holders to higher education and VET student loans, financial supports while studying and training, and family tax benefit part A. It will also extend access to family tax benefits and childcare subsidy for families participating in family accompaniment under the PALM scheme.

This bill reflects Australia's special relationship with the Pacific and Timor-Leste. The Albanese government has said before that Australia's central message to the Pacific is that we are here to listen. We are here to work together and we are here make a difference, and this bill puts those words into action. The measures contained in the bill extend support and benefits to Pacific engagement visa holders so participants will have the opportunity not just to settle in Australia but to pursue education opportunities and to thrive in their new communities. The new Pacific engagement visa is designed to grow the Pacific and Timor-Leste diaspora in Australia with ongoing connections to their home country, deepening our ties in the region.

The bill also delivers on the government's commitment to expand and improve the PALM scheme by introducing family accompaniment beginning with a pilot of 200 families. Workers under the PALM scheme provide essential support to Australia's economy and it is often in critical sectors including in aged care and agriculture. But to do so, many leave their families behind for months or for years. The PALM scheme family accompaniment will permit workers on one- to four-year placements to bring their immediate family to Australia with the support of their employer. This bill means that PALM scheme workers participating in family accompaniment will be able to access benefits to support them with the costs of raising a family. It will enable full participation of spouses in the workforce if they choose to do so. It recognises the invaluable contribution that people from the Pacific and Timor-Leste make to Australia, and it addresses the underrepresentation of some of Australia's closest neighbours and partners in our migration program. It brings to the fore the importance that Australia places on our relationships with the countries of this region and upholds our commitment to strengthening ties with the Pacific family.

I would like to address some of the contributions senators have made to the debate. The opposition's position on this bill is disappointing. It is disappointing because it shows they are not serious when they say they value Australia's relationship with the Pacific. It shows they are prepared to play politics with Australian migration policy and Australian foreign policy, and it shows that the party which so mismanaged Australia's important Pacific relationships when it was last in office has learnt nothing from those mistakes. Senator Duniam gave a short speech, most of which had nothing to do with his bill or indeed with Pacific migration or Australia's Pacific relationships.

The opposition more generally has misrepresented the Pacific engagement visa and misrepresented the role of the ballot in selecting people to apply for Pacific engagement visas. We dealt with the role of the Pacific engagement ballot in the Senate last month when we debated the Migration Amendment (Australia's Engagement in the Pacific and Other Measures) Bill 2023. Given the inaccurate portrayal presented by Senator Duniam in his remarks, let me explain again how the Pacific engagement visa will work.

Each year up to 3,000 Pacific engagement visas will be available. There will be a two-stage process in applying for the new visas. In the first stage, interested persons will register in a ballot. In the second stage applicants who were randomly selected in the ballot will be invited to apply for a Pacific engagement visa. Those invited to apply will then need to meet a range of requirements in order to be granted a visa. These requirements include having a formal job offer with an employer in Australia, being aged between 18 and 45, meeting English-language requirements, and meeting standard migration health and character requirements. So it is wrong for the opposition to claim that, under the Pacific engagement visa, Australian citizenship will be awarded by ballot. This is not true, and senators opposite know that it is not true. The ballot will not grant a visa or citizenship. Being selected by the ballot allows people to apply for the visa, and whether applicants are then awarded a visa is determined by whether they meet the eligibility criteria, not by ballot. Grants of Australian citizenship will not be determined by the Pacific engagement visa ballot but by existing citizenship processes.

Debate interrupted.

Senate adjourned at 20:00