Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to support the Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Bill 2008. This legislation is designed to introduce a new framework for the sponsorship of noncitizens seeking entry to Australia. The legislation is a timely and absolutely necessary response to the problems associated with the operation of the 457 visa program. The government is determined to strengthen the integrity of the program and to ensure that workers who come to Australia to assist this nation to build for the future are treated with fairness, dignity and equity—something that, for thousands of workers, was not applied under the previous government. We will achieve this through four main measures: providing the structure for better defined sponsorship obligations on employers and other sponsors; improving information sharing across all levels of government; expanding powers to monitor and investigate possible noncompliance by sponsors; and introducing meaningful penalties for sponsors found to be in breach of their obligations.

The use of temporary visas, particularly 457 visas, has increased dramatically over the last few years. This increase is a direct result of the Howard government’s failure to develop a strategic approach to building the skill base of Australia. Not only did they fail to develop a strategic approach; they did not have an approach on skills development for this country. Widespread skill shortages have been an impediment to the improved productive performance of this nation. They are a clear example of the failed economic policies of the previous government. In terms of economic policies, the previous government’s golden policy was Work Choices. It was not about building the skills of the nation; it was about taking rights away from ordinary Australians and trying to compete internationally on low skills and low wages—a proposition that was never, ever going to deliver for the nation.

But this government, the Labor government, is determined to build a sophisticated national skill development program, a program that we can be proud of and that will reduce our reliance on temporary overseas labour to build this nation. All of the opportunities that have been lost over the last 11½ years, all of the lost opportunities of the mining boom, could have been resolved if we had had a decent skill base and had been able to build the infrastructure projects to underpin this nation’s growth for the future.

Because the previous government failed to do that during those 11½ years, we have determined that we must invest $19.3 billion in education and training. We are not going for the easy way out. We are not saying to the bosses, ‘Screw your workers into the ground.’ We are saying to everyone in this country that skills, innovation and training are the way to move forward for this century. The $19.3 billion is an investment in Australia’s future. We will invest $1.9 billion over five years to fund up to 650,000 new training places—and I think we should send some older senators back for some training in common decency. That $1.9 billion over five years will provide 650,000 new training places. Those training places will be the engine that drives personal skill development and lifelong career progression.

While the government’s policy will increase the skill base of our country, significant progress on reducing skill shortages will take time, because we have to make up for 11½ years of incompetence by the previous government. This means that Australian industry will continue to seek access to the 457 visa system. Given the global economic crisis and the inevitability of Australia being caught up in the worldwide economic downturn, there is a high probability that the future use of 457 visas will decline. Nevertheless, the need to treat all workers in a fair, dignified and acceptable manner is fundamental to our government’s approach in this legislation.

Contributions in this debate from the opposition point to a minority of companies being engaged in unacceptable conduct towards 457 visa holders. It seems to me that the plight of migrant workers is being reduced to a statistical analysis by the opposition. Treating migrant workers who are helping build the nation as just a statistical blip is unacceptable to this government. It is quite illuminating when you analyse the statistics used by the opposition to defend the problems that they created in the 457 visa system. Senator Fierravanti-Wells argued that only 1.67 per cent of sponsors were found to have breached their sponsorship obligations. Senator Fierravanti-Wells stood up and said: ‘Look, it’s not a problem; it’s only 1.67 per cent. The Labor Party’s beating it up—1.67 per cent is another statistical blip. It’s just statistics. It’s not a problem if workers are being denied fair and reasonable treatment. Only 1.67 per cent of sponsors have breached their obligations.’

I had a look at Senator Fierravanti-Wells’s speech, and in it she also pointed to the fact that nearly 19,000 employers use the 457 visa system. If you take 1.67 per cent of those 19,000 employers, that is approximately 317 employers who are breaching their obligations across this nation and treating migrant workers in a manner other than what is fair and reasonable. If the opposition say that is something that should just be ignored because it is simply a minority of employers treating workers badly, we say that is unacceptable. We say that epitomises the worst aspects of the Howard government, the uncaring view that the Howard government had for not only migrant workers but Australian workers. This is the genesis of Work Choices—an uncaring view towards Australian workers, or any workers, and their plight.

These 317—approximately—employers breaching their obligations, in my view, understates the problem. I think it understates the problem massively. I think it is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what happened under the Howard government. These 317 employers employ what could be tens of thousands of migrant workers in this country. Even on your own figures and your own analysis this could be thousands of workers being exploited. In my view, you do not treat this as a statistical blip, you do not try and justify your inept performance on 457 visas by a statistic of 1.67 per cent—because if one migrant worker is exploited then that is one worker too many. That is what the Labor Party thinks. That is what the government thinks. If one migrant worker is killed or injured as a result of employer exploitation then that is one worker too many. If one migrant worker is denied equal pay for work of equal value then in my view that is one worker too many. If one worker is intimidated then that is one worker too many. And if one migrant worker goes back to their homeland and says Australia is a bad place in which to work then that is one worker too many having that point of view.

I note the opposition’s claim that the union campaign of opposition to 457 visas has been oversensationalised by the media. Since I have been in this place—not for a very long time—I have noticed that when the opposition are in trouble they go back to the old opposition position: ‘Blame the unions for our incompetence, blame the unions for our problems; don’t look under the carpet where you’ll find we have been incompetent for 11½ years on skill development, that we’ve been incompetent in our treatment of migrant workers, that we’ve failed to run the 457 visa system effectively; we’ll let migrant workers be exploited. Don’t worry about that, just blame the trade union movement.’ It is the basis of the Liberal Party’s approach on every issue on industrial relations where they find a problem.

But far be it from me to defend the media. The opposition say the media have oversensationalised it. ‘Blame the media, blame the unions—they have over-sensationalised it.’ I do not want to be the defender of the media, but I do think it is fair and reasonable and in the national interest that the media report the death of migrant workers, that they report the injuries suffered by migrant workers, that they report the exploitation of migrant workers under the Howard system, and that they expose the intimidation that went on under this scheme under the Howard government. I think that is a fair and reasonable thing for the media to do in this country. It is also a fair and reasonable thing for the trade union movement of this country to stand by and support migrant workers who are brought here without basic rights and forced into a system that strips them of rights similar to those of Australian workers. It is a fair and reasonable proposition for this government to say that the 457 visa system was mishandled, misused and abused by employers under the Howard government—and we are going to fix it. That is what we are going to do.

I have had personal experience of attempting to assist 457-visa workers who have been outrageously exploited. The problems with the system are not some invention of the media. They are not some invention of the trade union movement. They are not an invention of disgruntled migrant workers. There is massive documentation on the problems and incompetence of the Howard government with the 457 visa. The problems with the system have also been documented by the Victorian Magistrates Court.

Debate interrupted.