Rod Sawford (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to an answer he gave in question time yesterday when he said:

... there is overwhelmingly a need to have a policy that allows skilled tradesmen to come into this country on appropriate terms and conditions.

Prime Minister, isn’t it a fact that the latest full-year figures from the immigration department show that 30 per cent of visas approved under the temporary 457 visa scheme were below the minimum salary level? Is this what the Prime Minister meant by ‘appropriate terms and conditions’? Prime Minister, if this visa scheme is able to undercut its own minimum salary levels, what is it doing to the wages of local workers?

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