Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Werriwa for this motion on industrial relations. I am really glad that we are getting to speak on it, because in the last sitting we weren't able to. I'm really glad that it has come up again.

Whilst I don't usually point out the weaknesses of the previous government, because they are clear to all, they were in office for almost 10 years and the gender pay gap hardly moved. Notwithstanding that, it was a deliberate strategy of the former federal government, whether it was under Abbott, Turnbull or Morrison, the member for Cook, to keep wages low. What we and Australians have seen in the six months of our government under the Prime Minister and member for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese, is the smart turning around of that.

According to the OECD, Australia is experiencing the second-most severe labour shortage in the developed world. That has been exacerbated by COVID 19 and those 10 long years of policy neglect. As honourable members will know, Australian businesses are crying out for workers. The migrants who have made or want to make Australia home have been trapped mostly in an administrative limbo for years. It's no secret that the cost of living has always been higher in places like the one that I represent in northern Australia. In the regions generally in Australia we pay a bit more for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that it is difficult to attract workers, and there is an insufficient focus on training so that Aussie kids and, in my example, Territory kids have the skills. That's where fee-free TAFE and more federally funded university places come in.

I continually speak with businesses and industry groups in my electorate about the challenges they're facing. The worker shortage is by far the biggest concern up in our neck of the woods. The member for Gorton, the Minister for Skills and Training, recently came to Darwin, and we met with a broad cross-section of industry. They all told him the same thing, that a lack of skilled workers, whether they be from overseas or through us training our own is adding to the increased cost of living and it is affecting productivity. It is acute.

Unfortunately the previous government left our migration system and education and training sectors in crisis. They did not support either group when COVID hit, and migrants were understandably choosing other nations ahead of Australia because they found that their systems were simpler, quicker and cheaper to navigate. They did not want to sit around waiting for years for us to decide whether we could use their skills or not. Just imagine the productivity and the growth that would have occurred if we had supported people to stay. They've moved on and now we are caught short.

The migration system needs review, and that is what we are doing. Businesses are finding it exceedingly difficult to hire staff. The processing times for visas means businesses are waiting much too long—many months, often years—for an application to be processed, and that is why we've put more staff into the processing of those applications. The feedback I have had from Hospitality NT and other industry stakeholders is that restaurants in Darwin and Palmerston in my electorate are finding it incredibly difficult to find chefs and floor staff, and sometimes they are having to close midweek, or they are only opening a few nights a week or having to close the kitchen early when they do open.

A call out to any young Territorians and young Australians: come up to the north if you want some work. We have some work in our hospo industry. Some of our hospitality businesses are finding it so difficult with fewer openings and less revenue. Their leases and overhead costs are no lower, so it is a very difficult time for them. The biggest thing that I think we have seen from this government is support of workers on lower wages, and that is something I am very proud of.

See this speech in context