Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

With all due respect to the member for Reid, we can all pick out isolated examples of situations where, yes, things could have been better, absolutely. But to then, from that example, paint a broadbrush picture of the immigration system under the previous government—a government in a parliament which you did not sit in—and then to say, by reading points straight from the Labor dirt unit, that all was unwell whilst the coalition was in government, is a step too far.

This is coming from a side of politics that let in hundreds of boats and thousands of illegal arrivals. Many, many people died at sea under the policies of those opposite when they were in government. To suggest, for one moment, that the immigration system was in any way inadequate when we were in power is just preposterous, quite frankly. To the Labor dirt unit, if you're listening out there whilst you're typing up your stupid notes: you ought to realise that we did a lot of good whilst we were in power. We, in fact, fixed up the mess that Labor left behind—not, as is being put now, the other way around.

Now, I'm speaking on behalf of the member for Mallee, who can't be here because she is unwell. But in her role as deputy chair of the current inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, it has become clear to her that the current immigration settings are not sufficient, she tells me, to supply the skilled and unskilled workforce we absolutely require—particularly in the regions. I know those regions aren't familiar to a lot of those opposite. They have this city-centric view of the world which doesn't cover the country areas, which are absolutely essential to the economic wellbeing of this nation and which are all-too-forgotten by those opposite.

Under Labor, new data has revealed that the number of foreign student visas hit nearly 370,000 last financial year, which was 52 per cent higher than the record set in 2019. And 660,000 international students were either in Australia or ready to come—an all-time high. We want those students, but let's not forget that we have a crisis in this country to do with housing. We've got a crisis where we can't actually keep pace with the stock required. And then we have state Labor governments who want to shut down forestry and housing ministers who say, 'What's timber got to do with building houses?' Note to the housing minister: that's what we build houses from—timber. We have this situation with housing, and it is a crisis.

There's also a crisis with jobs; at the moment we just can't fill the vacancies—in particular, in regional Australia. In relation to agriculture, it is deeply regrettable that the Labor government has changed the rules around the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme—the PALM scheme—requiring employers to offer a minimum of 30 hours a week, per week, to eligible migrant workers, because many providers of jobs are walking away from the PALM scheme. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Labor discontinued the Australian Agriculture Visa Program initiated by the Nationals and established by the former coalition government to address workforce shortages in the sector. This is just so, so sad.

Worse still, Labor increased the temporary skilled migration income threshold from $53,900 to $70,000 from 1 July. We want to reward skilled migrants for the benefit they bring to the community and, coming from the Riverina, no-one knows this more than I do. We're a very multicultural place. Indeed, I would like to think that we're almost the cradle of multiculturalism in Australia. On Australia Day, many of my communities proudly fly more than 100 flags. In my hometown of Wagga Wagga, well in excess of 100 different nationalities reside in the city. They contribute to the city and contribute to Australia, and this is just fantastic.

But many regional businesses in agriculture and tourism, just for example, are only busy enough to take on skilled migrants at harvest time or during the high season. For them, meeting the $70,000 annual threshold is nigh on impossible, leaving them unable to employ migrant workers. So we need to look at these things; Labor needs to look at these things. They remind me a little bit of the dog that chased the car, got the car and then didn't know what to do with it. That is Labor on immigration, that is Labor on employment and that is Labor on the economy. That is Labor, full stop.

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