Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on what efforts the government is making to ensure a strong labour supply for Australia's fruit and vegetable growers to ensure summer fruits can get to market; and is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. A lot of work went into making sure that we came up with a tax level and, instead of having 32.5 per cent, which was really instigated back in the Labor Party days and confirmed by the AAT, if we had a 19 per cent tax then the average take-home pay for Australian working holiday-makers would have been around $14.34 an hour. This compares with $13.79 an hour in New Zealand under a backpacker scheme and under $13.39 an hour under a Canadian backpacker scheme.

After we did this, we discussed it, and it was agreed to by the NFF, NSW Farmers, the Northern Territory Farmers Association, the QFF, the Apple and Pear Growers Association of South Australia, and the VFF. It became an eminently sensible proposal to pursue. That position has also been endorsed by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, which also recommends that this rate be passed.

But there was a group that decided it was not the rate they wanted. Senator Jacqui Lambie became the leading economic light of the Australian Labor Party. She proposed a different rate—a rate of 10½ per cent. The problem with 10½ per cent is that this does not create fairness; it creates a mechanism to attract foreign workers into Australia to take Australian jobs. It seems awfully strange when the member for Maribyrnong, the former AWU leader, has come up with a reason to put Australian workers out of work and replace them with foreign workers.

It is rather remarkable, the lengths he will go to to create a political storm, to throw rubbish on the Australian agricultural industry, to create dissent and to create hurt for the purpose of political intrigue. If it is really his belief that we should have a 10.5 per cent tax rate, then why did he not propose it at the election? Because he had no intention of proposing a rate like that. The rate he proposed at the election was 32½ per cent, and that rate was booked by the Treasurer.

So now we have the Australian Labor Party basically letting their workers go, creating an advantage for foreign workers and putting Australian workers out of a job—and they do it for nothing more than political intrigue. He sits there smiling like the Cheshire cat. He thinks this is funny. It is just as funny as it was with the Chiquita Mushroom workers. It is just as funny as it was with Clean Event. This is what he thinks about the Australian working man and woman. This is what he is doing to the Australian working man and woman on the farm. He does not care about them; all he cares about is political intrigue and creating dissent and creating discord. It is an absolute disgrace, what the Labor Party has done to the backpacker—(Time expired)

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.