Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

Labour market testing puts local workers first. It makes employers prove there are no local workers. They can then fill jobs with overseas workers. We're not against people bringing in skill, talent and ability from overseas to enhance our economy. But what we're about here is making sure that, with these much-hyped changes, the 457 visa scheme is actually remedied. What the government did back in April last year was rebadge the 457 visas, giving them a new name. Only eight per cent of 457 visas granted under the current government were actually affected by the changes. They cracked down on goatherds and antique dealers, while cooks, bricklayers and cafe managers—jobs which could easily be filled by local workers—are still available to overseas workers.

At least 18 occupations that hadn't had a visa issued in the last 10 years and 46 that hadn't had a visa issued in the last year were removed from the list. There are no speed limits for over 400 occupations, and what the government did was add them back. Why is this important? It's really important because, in relation to the particular announcement that we saw in April last year, which is really the subject of the Migration Amendment (Skilling Australians Fund) Bill 2017 before the chamber, the government said, 'We're going to provide a legislative instrument that provides labour market testing.' This would be the first time ever in my experience—and certainly the first time in this place in the last decade—that the coalition has supported labour market testing. They can do it by legislative instrument, but it's not disallowable, of course. To be determined by legislative instrument, they can include the language used for advertising, the method of advertising, the time at which the advertisement must take place prior to nomination—and they could pick up the four months that we've put in our amendment—and the duration of the advertising.

We looked at this matter in the inquiry of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, which reported on Friday. Labor senators were gravely concerned that the revenue raised by this particular piece of legislation was insufficient to meet the obligations that would succeed the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform. What the government have said is that they're going to raise $1.2 billion and throw in another $261 million to make sure they've got this Skilling Australians Fund. But what they're actually saying is, 'We're going the rely on that and on the overseas workers to provide the funding to make sure we've got enough money to get over the $2.8 billion of skills and training funding we've cut.' They're saying they've reduced 457 visas, but they're expecting to bring in lots more, because they need to increase the fees—and they're doing so; they're increasing the levies and nominations fees—to make sure they've got the money for this fund, which will have a shortfall. That's the contradiction in the government's position.

In question time today, the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs said:

… to ensure that overseas workers are only brought when there are genuine skills needs. We are about to introduce new rules for how jobs must be advertised so that Aussies get the first chance at the jobs.

What are the new rules? They announced this in April last year. The Minister for Home Affairs has clearly handballed the portfolio to the poor old Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, and what's he doing? Why has he got skills and this sort of stuff in his portfolio in the first place? By the way, I'd like to see his charter letter for it in due course. If either minister were serious about Aussies getting the first chance at local jobs, they'd vote for the amendments.

What about the member for Dawson, who wrote on his Facebook page on 15 November 2016: 'The unemployment rate through Central and North Queensland is higher than the national average. As such, there's no need for the issuance of any 457 foreign worker visas in our region.' I wonder whether he'll vote with us tonight. Will he support Labor's amendment and stand up for proper labour market testing, although I doubt the honourable member's ability to act as a labour-market-testing body himself, which he put himself up for on 15 November 2016?

If he were serious about ensuring Australian workers got the first shot at jobs in Central and North Queensland he'd vote for these amendments. How about the member for Dawson's North Queensland and Central Queensland colleagues, the member for Capricornia and the member for Flynn? I wonder whether they'll vote for these amendments. Will they stand up for local workers having the first shot at local jobs by enshrining labour market testing in legislation?

You can't trust the Turnbull government to support labour market testing. They've never supported it, and they won't tonight. It goes to show that they have no commitment to local jobs.

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