Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to speak briefly to the amendment and to make a brief statement on behalf of the government. I want to thank the member for Kennedy for his contribution. It was thoughtfully expressed, and I know they're very longstanding positions of the member for Kennedy. The member talked about some of his critiques of the discussion about trade in Australia, and actually there's a lot in his comments that I agree with. I think there has been far too much ideology in these discussions and not enough common sense. I do think the agreements before us pass the test. There are huge benefits here for Australia and huge benefits for agriculture and for the regional and rural parts of our country.

I think it's important to note the stage we're at with this agreement. The agreement has been concluded with the UK. The amendment is not something the government will be supporting at this very late stage of the discussion—to make a change on the floor of the parliament as this works its way through. I'm very conscious of the big-picture problem that the member for Kennedy raises about labour shortages in rural and regional Australia: they're acute, they're real and they are very certainly affecting the lives of the people we represent in this parliament.

The member will be aware that there a very large amount of work has been done on this problem since the new government came to power in May. We have processed literally millions of visas. When we arrived in office there were a million visas sitting in the system, with no plan to process them, and that situation is changing quite quickly. The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme will be an important part of the solution here. We've got the Work and Holiday program associated with the Indonesia trade agreement, which continues to grow, and I believe there are over 5,000 positions available under that.

I'll conclude by making the final point that the agreement we've made with the UK involves some trade-offs. While there are aspects of the agreement that the member for Kennedy raises issue with, it's important to note there are other parts of the agreement that will actually significantly increase the labour supply coming to Australia from the UK. I understand the points of view that are being raised, and I'm very respectful of them, but the government will not be supporting the amendment.

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