Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I was making the observation about the importance of the 457 visa class, because the Australian economy is performing very well. As I think the member should know, we have unemployment at record lows; we have high demand for skilled workers; and we have employers looking for ways to grow their businesses and employ more people which, in turn, will create wealth and jobs for Australians. And the 457 visa class, of course, is the key to meeting that demand at this time.

The Prime Minister made the observation not so long ago—and I agree with it—that it was clear that the objective evidence is that wages are not being driven down. In fact, there was a two per cent increase in wages in the last quarter. Amanda Vanstone, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, released a report on the temporary skilled migration program recently, and I would suggest that the honourable member may care to read it because it found that 93 per cent of those on visas surveyed were in managerial, professional, associate professional, trade or skilled occupations. In other words, they were highly skilled in the positions in which they were working; they were having average salaries of $65,000 per annum; they had to be paid a minimum salary level, and that was $41,850 in metropolitan Australia. This is not an indication that wages are being driven down. The overwhelming majority of temporary workers feel that they are being treated the same as others.

I have observed the suggestion that because the 457 visa class is being used more frequently the percentage of visits is down, and in fact in percentage terms they may be, but in absolute numbers visits are well up, with DIMA having monitored over 6,471 sponsors in 2005-06, having side visits of 1,790 of out of 10,000 sponsors, and they are dedicating more resources, of course, to deal with more allegations that are being made from time to time. The minister has also responded with a $23.5 million package over four years to establish further strike teams to deal with these issues to ensure that employers of temporary workers are complying with the conditions of the visas, and measures to improve negotiation and management of labour agreements. This is an issue on which the government wants to have a program that has appropriate bona fide arrangements in place to ensure compliance, but it is a program that is in the national interest.

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