John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I do not accept that ‘rorting’ of the 457 visa system is a proper description of the way the system in its totality is operated. If I had to prosecute a case on this, the first witness for the prosecution against the claim made by the Leader of the Opposition would be the New South Wales Minister for Health, because the New South Wales health department has used the 457 visa system more than anybody else. The second witness for the prosecution would be Mr Eric Ripper, the Deputy Premier of Western Australia, who has practically pleaded with the minister for immigration to let more people in. Mr Speaker, if ever you have seen hypocrisy on an issue, it is this lot opposite in relation to 457 visas. At a state level, they have got ministers running around the country wringing their hands and saying, ‘We can’t get enough workers to run our meatworks, to run the resource industries in Western Australia—

See this speech in context