David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Vanstone. Will the minister advise of the details of any labour market agreements signed recently affecting the meat processing industry’s ability to recruit temporary overseas skilled migrants? Is the minister aware of any plans to extend the agreement, and is the minister aware of any policy alternatives?

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

I thank the senator for his question and his obvious interest in the meat industry in Western Australia in particular, but also around Australia, having the labour supply it needs in order to do its job. Last week, two departments within the Australian government—the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs—signed an agreement with the Western Australian government. It is an important agreement. It relates to just one company—International Exporters—but it allows them to recommence recruiting from overseas the people it needs. Without this agreement, the company believes that it would have had to lay off a number of Australians. We can debate the number—the company’s view is that it would have been around 70—but the important point is that this is a company that wants to be competitive domestically and internationally. It needs extra workers, it says it cannot get them in Australia and so it wants to bring people in from overseas.

The importance of the Western Australian government being a part of this agreement is that the state governments have responsibility for occupational health and safety, for example. They have an impact when a significant number of workers come in from overseas and are newly arrived to a local government area. Those workers have issues in relation to the services that they offer. So it is important for state governments to understand what the federal government wants to do in cooperation with industry so that industry has the skills that it needs. Clearly, the Western Australian government understands that it has a role and a responsibility in this area.

The agreement provides for strict skills assessment requirements, a minimum salary of over $41,000, minimum English language requirements and training of more Australians. What I think is important and of great interest, and which has not been achieved in the past to my knowledge, is that it is an agreement that encourages the company concerned to take on Indigenous Australians, humanitarian entrants—who are best settled if they can quickly find a job—and the long-term unemployed. This agreement protects Australian jobs and builds more. The meat-processing industry is one of our key export industries, it is worth billions of dollars a year and it is important that it has the skills that it needs. This agreement will help secure the economic viability of Gin Gin, north of Perth, where the company is a particularly key employer.

The Western Australian government is going to ensure under the agreement that all state laws are followed, including occupational health and safety. Apparently, Mr Beazley thinks that the immigration department should do that. We are not equipped to do that. That is not what we are charged to do. It is the responsibility of state governments and I congratulate the Western Australian government on recognising its responsibilities and working in cooperation with us to achieve them.

The other important aspect of this agreement is that the Western Australian Minister for Small Business, Norman Marlborough, said he likes the agreement so much that he wants to use it as a benchmark. I welcome that and I encourage my colleagues opposite to have a look at it and see if it is a good benchmark for a national agreement. Norman Marlborough also said that he is more than willing to work with us on securing a national agreement. We are currently negotiating similar agreements across a range of industries, including the finance sector, the logistics industry and the medical industry. So, while Mr Beazley is telling Australia, ‘Watch out, foreigners are coming to take your jobs,’ this government and the Western Australian government understand that we sometimes need to bring people in to protect and build Australian jobs and make Australia more secure.