Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bernardi for that question, because there are consequences if you do not have a skilled migration program. There are consequences if you say, ‘We’ve got a skills shortage, so we’ll put everybody’s wages up.’ I was surprised to find that even Mr Beazley agrees. They come in here and say: ‘That’s terrible—you’re using migration to suppress wages.’ What a terrible thing to use skilled migration to keep wages at a reasonable point! I quote from Mr Beazley’s media statement of 10 may this year:

Industry groups and Labor agree the Australian economy desperately needs more skilled workers to relieve upward pressure on home loan interest rates.

So, if you want to know why the Labor Party’s polling is down, it is because you cannot run two arguments at one time. What you need to learn is to do what this government does. You need to learn what the Prime Minister does—that is, say what you think, argue your case, stick to your guns— (Time expired)