Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moore will pause for a second. Members on my left will cease interjecting. The member for Moore will begin again.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the importance of skilled migration in supporting businesses and regions to grow when no Australians are available? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moore for his question. It was great to visit his electorate a few weeks ago and hear from locals about their skills needs in northern Perth. Around the country, we're seeing the job creation policies of the Turnbull government in action. There are jobs being created in every city, in every town and in every state around the country. A million jobs have been created since we came to government. But what this means is that, in some regions and some industries, they're actually finding it difficult to find workers. There are simply more jobs being created than workers that are available. In Kalgoorlie, for example—in the member for O'Connor's electorate—there are 500 positions which are vacant in the WA Goldfields area. The tech industry tell me similar things. In some regions, such as the member for Leichhardt's electorate, which I visited, very unique skills are being required, such as Mandarin speaking scuba-diving instructors because the Chinese tourism is so great up in that area.

The government's policy is to prioritise Australians for Australian jobs but, when none are available, to support businesses to sponsor people into the country. So, consequently, we're putting labour agreements into place for key industries. We're working on regional agreements in the member for O'Connor's and the member for Leichhardt's electorates and we've announced a global talent scheme in order to attract high-end talent to support innovation. These are all carefully calibrated policies to address the labour market tightening.

I'm asked about alternatives. While we've got a carefully calibrated policy to adjust to labour market demands, the reverse occurred when Labor were in government. When Labor were in government, they actually saw not an increase in jobs but a decrease in jobs in their last term in office. Seventeen thousand jobs were destroyed in their last term in office. The welfare queues extended by 250,000 people under the Labor Party. And while that was going on—while jobs were in decline and welfare queues were going up—what do you think was going on in terms of foreign workers coming into the country? You'd think you wouldn't need many, wouldn't you? But, no. They had record numbers of foreign workers coming in on 457 visas, despite the job market going backwards and welfare queues increasing. Who was in charge at that time, when that was going on? Who was the workplace relations minister at that particular time overseeing this? It was none other than the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, who wants to implement these policies should he get back into government.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will refer to members by their correct titles.

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

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