Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) | Hansard source

I thank the member for Holt for the motion. All workers deserve to be treated fairly, and that's a principle that I certainly believe in. I think the tone of this motion is that temporary migrant workers are routinely exploited. I want to emphasise that I don't think this is the case in my electorate, and I want to give some examples. Overseas labour is fundamental to our productivity, and my region has a significant agricultural and horticultural sector. A lot of the migrants who came after the war, particularly after World War II, stayed on, developed wonderful businesses and now have incredible lives and incredible families. I think that's something we should all celebrate.

The manufacturing businesses, vehicle workshops, dry-cleaning, hospitality, farms and food manufacturers are incredibly reliant on migrant workers. Overseas workers are not—as used to be said—taking jobs from Australian workers; increasingly, they are our workers. Migrants held 26.3 per cent of all jobs in Australia in 2019 and 2020. There have been some issues with migrant workers in the nation. The Australian Border Force's register of sanctioned sponsors has identified businesses or individuals who have breached their sponsorship obligations. In Victoria, going back to 2015, there are more than 300 on the list. There are just two agricultural businesses in Victoria that appear on that register, and both happen to be in my electorate.

I know there is a need for constant vigilance and constant enforcement of the laws that exist, and we'll certainly look at new legislation that can increase that. But it can't be all stick and no carrot. I think mistakes can be made if the system is too complex. Running a business is hard work. It's very difficult, so mistakes can be made. Then, there can be malfeasance. That needs to be punished, and I fully support that. I think about what Labor's proposing to do with PALM, the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme. They've changed the PALM scheme to guarantee a minimum of 30 hours of pay per week. It sounds good to people who have never run a business, or a horticultural business, but, in my electorate, horticultural business is paying tens of thousands of dollars to top up workers' wages, regardless of the amount of productivity in that week. The fruit might not be ready to harvest, but they'll get the hours the week after. That doesn't work for the farming systems.

I want to share this story. I recently went to the funeral of an elderly fruit grower whose family has been growing fruit in my region for a number of years. He was an older guy; he was in his early 80s. It was very sad that we lost him. The most inspiring thing at the funeral was when the Pacific Islander workers, who had been back and forth between that farm and their home in the Pacific Islands for so many years, got up and sang their Pacific Island songs from their culture to honour this man who'd worked so well with them and given them such dignity through his business. They helped his business, and his business helped them to send money home to their families. The respect for this elderly fruit grower that was had by those Pacific workers—that's the way it should work, and that's the way we want it to work. I can assure the member for Holt that, overwhelmingly, in my electorate that's the way it does work. If there are ways in which we can make it work like that for everyone, then I'm all ears and I'm sure this side will be very supportive of that. But it has got to make sure that productivity of business and profitability of business are at the forefront. Without that, none of us have a job, whether you're a migrant worker or an Australian worker. That's why the previous coalition government introduced the ag visa—we thought it would be a good way to get more migrant workers here, also on a path to permanency. We'll look at your legislation about migrant workers, but please relook at the ag visa. I think it was a way of getting—

An honourable member: You guys didn't do anything—

a real win-win situation for not only businesses in the region but also migrant workers.

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