Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the vital contribution that temporary visa holders, including skilled workers and international students, make to both Australia's economy and our local communities;

(2) notes that since March 2020, due to the international border restrictions that helped keep us safe during the pandemic, many visa holders, both onshore and offshore, have faced uncertainty and difficulty;

(3) commends the Government for reopening the international border to a range of economic and humanitarian visa holders from 1 December 2021; and

(4) welcomes the further carefully managed opening of our border to other visa holders, including visitors, when it is safe to do so.

If there is anything we've learnt over the 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic it is that the virus presents more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie mystery. Since lodging this motion a week ago, the world has learnt of a new variant, omicron, which has already reached our own shores. It's early days, and scientists around the world are working quickly to learn what its impacts could be, its likely spread and consequences for health, and how vaccines and treatments will respond. We need to be prudent and prepared, but it is too early to know definitively answers to some of these questions. However, with the incredible success of our vaccination program and our strong health system, we must aim to ensure there is no reversal in the progress we have been making to reopen and reconnect Australia with the rest of the world.

Our international border arrangements have been important, if not the most important aspect of our response to COVID-19 since they were instituted on 20 March last year. Restricting movements across our international borders has kept Australians safer by helping shield us from the worst impacts and dangers of the virus and has helped to protect the lives and livelihoods of thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens.

Nonetheless, the reality of the border closures has carried with it an extraordinary emotional toll for many Australian citizens, permanent residents and visa holders. My own partner comes from Mexico, and I have therefore seen firsthand the impact of separation from families. In a country as multicultural as Australia, we've been affected perhaps more than most. Many have been prevented from sharing in those moments with their loved ones that are at the core of our family lives and human experience—travelling for births, watching the marriage of a loved one, and, in some cases, even the opportunity to say goodbye to a family member. As a local MP, I've worked with so many residents wanting to travel to be with their loved ones during these times of need or celebration. I've heard the jubilation when an exemption for travel was approved. Similarly, I've witnessed the heartbreak from residents that didn't have the opportunity to get where they needed to be.

We also know that these border restrictions have had a profound impact on the economic life of the nation. We do rely on the skills and experience of those coming to work here and the contribution made by international students. The consequences were perhaps masked by the decline in economic activity that lockdowns entailed, but they have been exposed as they have ended and business has resumed with gusto.

That is why I do commend the actions taken by the Morrison government to safely reopen the borders to vaccinated travellers as part of the national plan. I have been a strong advocate for our safe reopening and was thrilled when the government recently announced that fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents and their families, including their parents, could return to Australia and to New South Wales and other states from the first of this month without the pandemic restrictions that were previously in place. And I welcome the further easing of border restrictions that will happen from 1 December, in just two days time, with fully vaccinated international student, skilled migrant, refugee, humanitarian and temporary provisional, family visa holders able to travel to Australia again. This reopening is a result of the success Australia has achieved through the vaccination rollout and the implementation of the national plan.

Australia has managed this pandemic better than almost any other nation. Of the 38 OECD countries, Australia had the second-lowest number of COVID-19 cases per capita. In fact, at 0.04 per cent of Australians, that is something significantly less than a nation like the United States which has had 12 per cent of its population infected.

Economically Australia was also the first advanced economy to have more people in work than prior to COVID, and we have seen the economy and employment rebound so quickly after lockdowns. And now our economy is set to receive another boost as we welcome back temporary visa holders, including skilled workers and international students, who are so vital to the success of our country and its economy. For example, prior to the pandemic, international education contributed $37.6 billion to our economy and delivered something like 250,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Moreover, as Australia transitions through to the final phase of the national plan, skilled visa holders will help relieve temporary and skilled labour shortages and further support critical export industry to drive Australia's economic recovery to new heights. These visa holders, including skilled workers and international students, contribute enormously to our economy and our local community. So, in two days time, we will be able to say with enthusiasm, 'Welcome back.' We will all be the beneficiaries of being able to do just that.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is, and I reserve my right to speak.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to make a contribution to this motion. As the member for North Sydney noted in his contribution, since this motion was placed on the Notice Paper things have changed quite a bit. That is of course a reminder that we cannot assume that the circumstances we are in today will continue and that we need to be continually vigilant as we navigate the circumstances of a world in which COVID continues to be endemic. I acknowledge the contribution of the member for North Sydney and recognise his personal circumstances as having been affected by border closures that were a consequence of the pandemic. That is an experience common to many Australians who have felt the pain of separation and the pain of uncertainty through this period. We are a nation in which half of us were born overseas or have parents who were born overseas. That is something I recognise in this debate, as well as the particular challenges faced by visa holders, which is what the motion particularly addresses. I thank the member for North Sydney for putting these issues before the House, because they are significant questions.

In debating this motion, we can't ignore some hard realities and, indeed, some responsibilities. We need to recognise that we have seen in this country a very significant and concerning drift away from pathways to permanency when it comes to temporary forms of migration, and this presents some very significant questions that really find their pointiest expression in the Intergenerational report released by the government. We've also got to think about the things that exacerbate the uncertainties and difficulties that this motion recognises—in particular, the call by a minister in this government for stranded international students to go home, when they could not go home—and the failure to really support people who were not in a position to return to their home countries, because of a variety of restrictions imposed during the pandemic, which led to many people being reliant on charity. There were queues at food banks in my electorate. We recognise that the Australian government was perhaps the least generous of all OECD nations in supporting the circumstances of stranded temporary migrants.

This matters because of who we are as a country that has been open to the world as a modern nation built on engagement with the world; and the economic significance, which the member for North Sydney was right to touch on, of our third-biggest export earner can't be neglected. When we think about the dimensions of the international student question, we've already seen the neglect with which this government has treated the university sector over nearly the last decade. That has had consequences not only for the reliance of these institutions on international students but also on the experience of international students, and it remains concerning that there is no vision for this. Of course, while our competitors in this global marketplace are on the front foot, we have to deal with the concerns that were evident throughout this period: lack of support; lack of empathy; lack of understanding; and, frankly, also a failure to deal with an outbreak of racism that came with the pandemic, a failure to recognise its significance to individuals and a failure to recognise its cost to us as a community and as a society.

These are issues that cannot be ignored when we think about the reopening of our border. They are matters that need to be dealt with, as indeed do our broader settings when it comes to migration policy. This is a question that Labor is up for but the government is not. At every level the government has failed the test. We've heard so much talk about the ag visa, yet no-one seems to know exactly what it will do or, critically, what protections will come with it for individual visa holders, for other workers impacted by it and for the relevant labour markets.

While we think about how we respond to this latest challenge when it comes to the new variant, and when we think about the wider challenges of our policy settings that apply to people coming here on visas, their pathways to permanency and our obligations to them and to building a skills system that is fit for purpose, these are questions that have all been ignored under this government. So, while we welcome the return of each and every one of them, and while we welcome the prospect of families being reunited and people having the opportunity to gather together, these are issues that cannot continue to be ignored.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

More than 85 per cent of Australians are now fully vaccinated. As we approach the end of the year, we do so poised to reach 90 per cent fully vaccinated before 2022 begins. Had anyone in this place suggested such an ambitious target 12 months ago they perhaps would have been doubted for good reason. Australians have banded together, supported each other and done the right thing to stop the spread and minimise the impact of COVID-19 on our health and our economy. As a result of Australians stepping up and getting vaccinated to reach almost 90 per cent, Australia is now reopening its international borders to vaccinated travellers as part of our step-by-step and safe reopening to the world.

Fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents and their families have been able to return home since 1 November. On 21 November, Australians welcomed back fully vaccinated Singaporean travellers. From Wednesday this week, fully vaccinated international students, skilled migrants and refugee, humanitarian, temporary and provisional family visa holders will be able to travel to Australia without exemption. This is obviously music to my ears, particularly in my electorate of Barker, where employers rely so heavily on migration to fill labour shortages.

The strict border settings and travel restrictions have successfully shielded us from COVID-19 but have also prevented many critical offshore workers from travelling to Australia. Critical skills shortages and workforce gaps have emerged, hampering Australia's economic recovery. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of vacant jobs in my electorate. Employers are tearing their hair out, having to cut shifts and scale back the supply of goods and services as a result. There are jobs in industries and for roles such as aged care, disability care, child care, engineering, tradespeople, food processing, chefs and of course agriculture.

Unfortunately, the domestic workforce alone is not enough to address these skills shortages, because of mobility and geographic mismatches amongst, of course, other factors. Targeted migration is needed to fill the critical skills and labour gap shortages. Migration programs are secondary sources of labour. Employers in my electorate and indeed throughout Australia take an Australian-worker-first policy before filling gaps with backpackers, seasonal workers, skilled migrants or otherwise, all flown in from overseas.

Last summer a COVID-induced shortfall of well over 20,000 seasonal workers saw many growers in the horticultural sector turn off irrigation to crops, knowing full well they simply wouldn't have the workers needed to harvest their produce. Not only was that devastating for farmers; it threatened the entire supply chain. Without pickers, there's no need for truck drivers and wholesalers, and, ultimately, the decrease in supply pushed produce prices up at the check-out for consumers. Thankfully for the Riverland in my electorate of Barker, one of the nation's horticultural hotbeds, the South Australia government established a regional quarantine facility at Paringa, which enabled the arrival of seasonal and Pacific labour workers under the Seasonal Worker Program and Pacific Labour Scheme ahead of the 2021 citrus harvest. This initiative saw around 1,000 people enter the country and support the state's $277 million citrus industry to get the fruit off the trees and into our supermarkets.

While the horticultural sector was particularly vulnerable when international and domestic borders shut, so too were many other industries. The meat processing centre, the bumper grain harvest this year, the wool industry and regional hospitality and tourism businesses have all been hurting from the workforce challenges of our borders being shut. Our care sector in the regions also greatly benefited from skilled migration to fill staffing shortfalls in our hospitals, our aged-care settings and the disability support sector.

Our rural and regional communities will welcome the opening of international borders. The return of skilled workers and international students to Australia will further cement our economic recovery, providing the valuable workers our economy needs. As Australia transitions through the phases of the national plan, to transition Australia's national COVID-19 response economic migrants will fill urgent, temporary and skilled labour shortages, fulfil our international trade obligations and further support critical export industries to drive Australia's economic recovery from COVID-19.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm happy to speak on the motion moved by the member for North Sydney. In March 2020, with the emergence of COVID-19, Prime Minister Morrison closed Australia's borders to all non-citizens and non-residents. Australian citizens could still theoretically travel to Australia, but the lack of flights available made it all but impossible for many Australian citizens to return home. In September last year, after Scott Morrison promised all stranded Australians would be home by Christmas his bureaucrats then promised to do whatever it took to support the states to safely increase quarantine capacity to bring stranded Australians home. Both those promises have been broken.

In October 2021 there were about 47,000 Australians still stranded overseas—people who still call Australia home. The Prime Minister recently announced that on 1 December 2021 the international borders will reopen to a range of economic and humanitarian visa holders, including international students who are fully vaccinated. That was good news for universities and other educational facilities who have seen many international students locked out.

For two years the universities and the wider economy have suffered from the international student lockout. Phil Honeywood, the CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, has said publicly that we are down from $40 billion in 2019 to just on $30 billion, which includes tuition fees, accommodation costs, entertainment and all the wonderful ways in which these young people spend money in our economy. On top of that, hundreds of former students who hold a valid temporary graduate visa were caught off-guard overseas once our borders were closed.

I know the Indian community have been lobbying the government for many months on behalf of the many former international students on subclass 485 visas. Many of those former students had returned to visit family after graduating and were making plans to return to Australia to work to upgrade their qualifications before applying for permanent residency. In some cases the subclass 485 visa is only valid for 18 months, and Australia's borders have been closed to these visa holders for close to 18 months. Many other visa holders have been locked out as well. One of my local manufacturers has been waiting for months for Janelle, an industrial chemist who was granted a temporary work visa, to arrive in Australia. He had also sponsored Saeed, who arrived in Australia in March 2020. However, Saeed's wife remained in their home country waiting for Saeed to settle before making arrangements for herself and her son to travel here. However, once the borders closed she was not granted a travel exemption despite numerous requests to be reunited with her husband in Australia.

The announcement by the Prime Minister to open Australia's borders to certain vaccinated visa holders has been welcome. Of course, as we have all come to know very well over the past two years, planning anything while we have COVID-19 and its variants swirling around the globe is difficult—almost impossible. We now have this new strain of COVID-19, the omicron strain, that we so far know very little about. This may again impact on our international borders.

We know we are not out of this pandemic yet. Quarantine is our first line of defence, and the Morrison government still has not built quarantine facilities for returning Australians, returning students and returning travellers, despite our Constitution expressly making quarantine a federal government responsibility. The Queensland government are on track to have the Wellcamp purpose-built quarantine centre, near Toowoomba, up and running by the end of December. Wellcamp will eventually be a 1,000-bed facility situated just outside Toowoomba. By the end of December 500 beds will be in operation, and the whole facility will be completed by the end of March—quite an achievement. This facility will ensure we have quarantine capacity for travellers returning to Queensland, a state that relies heavily on international travellers. Even as restrictions change there will still be a need for a variety of quarantine options to provide appropriate quarantine settings for a range of individual circumstances and public health requirements.

The emergence of the omicron strain—and I know I'm talking about something on which information is unfolding almost by the hour—has highlighted the pressing need for purpose-built quarantine facilities in Australia. Why didn't the Morrison government start building quarantine facilities earlier? The answer is the same as the reason we were at the end of the queue when it came to getting vaccines—not at the start, as claimed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister thinks every problem is actually someone else's fault, something for someone else to find the solution to. Every crisis is someone else's responsibility. COVID-19 is a crisis. It has been since March last year. We need a prime minister who will do what's needed to keep Australia safe and to lead us out of this pandemic: Prime Minister Albanese.

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As much as I like my good friend the member for Moreton, I won't necessarily agree with everything he had to say. He might find that rather unsurprising, I might add. I'm delighted to rise and speak on this motion from the member for North Sydney. We have seen over the past few days how quickly things have changed with the advent of the omicron variant of COVID-19. But the advent of this new variant, and some of the restrictions that have been put in place as a result for people who are coming from high-risk countries—and I won't go through them all—are important. We have stopped direct flights from those countries for the time being, but Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family members who have been in those countries will still be able to return home. They'll be required to undertake 14 days of quarantine in a managed facility, and they'll have to make the appropriate declarations.

More broadly, I've had discussions across my electorate of Forde with a variety of businesses and other organisations. I know that there are members in this place who have very significant agricultural communities, like the member for Barker, who spoke previously on the impact on his workforce in the agricultural sector. I've seen the impact on the workforce at the Teys abattoir in Beenleigh, with the issues of the borders being closed and not being able to access migrant workers to fill job vacancies at the largest employer in my electorate. I've had discussions with many businesses who have, say, put in place or been building a new factory, had a new production line that needed to be commissioned and haven't been able to get the appropriate technicians into the country to properly commission and test the production lines to get those up and running. I know from speaking to those businesses the frustration that has gone with that.

The necessity to have closed the borders in the first place to limit the risk and spread of COVID-19 is also critically important. I know that that has created issues for skilled workers, international students and even Australian residents wanting to come back home to Australia. I saw the difficulty of that with family members who were seeking to get back to Australia.

We recognise the importance of international education to our economy, and, with Griffith University just outside of my electorate, next door in the electorate of Rankin, I know the importance of international students to our university sector. It's not just the revenue they generate for the universities but also the places they fill in our workforce while they're here. Talking to many of our cafes and restaurants, I know the struggles they have had getting staff during this period of border closures.

As we look across the economy and start to open up, I know that starting to see people being able to come back into Australia, particularly our international students, lifts the confidence of our business community and the community more generally. As I said already on the importance of skilled workers, I know many of my manufacturing businesses are struggling to find Australians. I know several businesses that have given people in their employ significant pay rises to ensure that they keep those employees they've got because of the inability to source other skilled workers and the competition there is for those skilled tradespeople in our economy.

So the opening of our international borders is critically important, but we must always review that—as we have seen in the last couple of days now with this new variant of coronavirus—in the context of ensuring we maintain as much as possible our public health to prevent a continued outbreak. (Time expired)

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a strange coincidence, isn't it, that, after nearly two years of ignoring temporary visa holders, the day before the border restrictions are eased this motion suddenly appears in the parliament for debate? The Prime Minister's loyal lemmings have lined up to spout this self-congratulatory prattle. I will just read two sentences from the motion indicating what we are apparently supposed to do. It moves that the House:

(3) commends the Government for reopening the international border to a range of economic and humanitarian visa holders from 1 December 2021; and

(4) welcomes the further carefully managed opening of our border to other visa holders, including visitors, when it is safe to do so.

Whatever that means! A more honest motion would go something like this: 'We condemn the government for failing to order enough vaccines or to build safe national quarantine last year. And this failure, your government's failure, has led to unnecessary lockdowns and months of delay in opening the borders.'

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I remind the member for Bruce it's not my government. Pointing to me is unparliamentary.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sure. Yes. I've got that. It's ruined the relationships of thousands of Australians. It's the failure of the government to do its job and the failure of the bloke who sits over there, occupying the Prime Minister's chair, that fraud, that fake of a man, who did not do his job for Australians when it mattered. He didn't order the vaccines. He still hasn't built safe national quarantine. That ruined the relationships of thousands of Australians separated from their loved ones. More than 40,000 stranded Australians were stuck overseas, vulnerable, losing their life savings and risking their health. It separated grandparents from their grandkids for far longer than necessary. There's the mounting economic damage that we hear about due to a shortage of critical workers. The government were telling international students to bugger off and go home. That was the Prime Minister, actually.

There's been incalculable human misery completely ignored by the government. Families have been separated because of their visa status. I have heard from dozens of people—it might sound like an exaggeration, but it's not—who have not met their own children because one partner who might have been in this country for 10 years but still happened to be on a temporary visa happened to be overseas when the borders were closed and the other parent was here in Australia. It's been nearly two years and they've still never met their own children. There's no compassion from the government. There have been desperate calls from parents, separated from their children because of the border closures. It's been nearly two years of the government ignoring hundreds of thousands of people with a stake in this country. Many of these people have been here for more than a decade. They have jobs, commitments, leases, lives and loves in this country. They pay tax and they work critical jobs, and the government's shown no compassion, no discernment and no nuance, just a blunt discrimination against them because of their visa status. It's been nearly two years of the chaotic administration of the travel authorisation system. We had the ridiculous situation where young backpackers who could claim to the government they had lived together for one year and one day could get their partner into the country but numerous people who had been in a committed relationship for five, 10 or 15 years but simply happened to live between two countries because of their life circumstances have been separated.

What does the government say to the women who I've spoken to who've lost their chance in this life to ever have a child as they are now too old to do IVF because the government has kept the borders closed with no compassion, no nuance and no exceptions? I've seen those people in my office.

Australia's a nation of migrants, and there is no argument that citizens should be the priority for return, but the government's incompetence and its callousness have hurt far more than just the stranded Australians. I represent the most multicultural council area in the whole of Australia. More than 80 per cent of the work of my office is on visas and citizenship and the black hole of the Department of Home Affairs. There are millions of Australians with their lives and their loves split across two continents and two time zones. The human impact is horrendous. Of course some pain and destruction cannot be avoided in a global pandemic, but so much of what has happened has been because the Prime Minister failed to do his job—didn't order vaccines, didn't build safe quarantine. So it's not just the millions of Australians who have suffered through the Prime Minister's lockdowns; it's not just the border closures, which has impacted on our economy, and temporary migration; it's the tens of billions of dollars that the next generation are going to be asked to repay on the national debt because they had to hand out tens of billions of dollars in economic assistance because the government couldn't order enough vaccines or build safe quarantine. Shame on the government and shame on whoever introduced this motion full of spin and self-congratulatory prattle!

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

March 2020 saw Australian life as we know it change in so many ways. But when our international borders closed, many more aspects were impacted—tourism, education, trade—and, for many, family life changed dramatically throughout this time. The closing of our border has protected Australia from widespread COVID outbreaks unlike many countries across the world. As a nation we have successfully been able to manoeuvre and navigate the risks this pandemic has presented. We have successfully avoided severe health and economic outcomes of the pandemic and we are now in a position where we are global leaders in vaccination rates and, importantly, economic recovery.

When we closed our international border we positioned the nation to be able to successfully suppress the virus and provide a layer of protection to enable the vaccine rollout. 1 November was an exciting day, when we were able to reopen our borders to fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents and their families. In a couple of days, on 1 December, we will celebrate the milestone of being able to welcome international students, skilled workers and temporary visa holders back to Australia.

In my electorate of Mallee, the return of desperately needed workforce will be a welcome relief for the agriculture industry. Growers and farmers have endured the challenge and loss of sufficient workforce to keep their businesses going and get their harvests done. I've spoken to many farmers who are unable to get product from their paddock to market, simply because there aren't enough hands to do the work. This is an industry that is dependent on migrant workers, and COVID has exacerbated an already existing challenge. In October this year the Morrison-Joyce government announced the delivery of the agriculture worker visa. This is a landmark moment in Australia's history and for the agriculture sector. This visa will serve to rectify labour shortage, providing a long-term reliable workforce for our critical industries. The ag visa will be able to bring in low-skilled through to skilled workers across a broad range of industries.

One key barrier that remained, however, was the quarantine facility available in each state and territory. I am proud to say that this decision from the Morrison-Joyce government to open the borders to vaccinated visa holders brings resolve to this quarantine problem. Australia is setting itself up for success and a sustainable future. The federal government have been preparing for this day through the national transition plan, and now we are following through with that plan to the benefit of all Australians. This government can be trusted at its word. When we signalled the gradual reopening of inward and outward international travel with proportionate health measures for vaccinated people, we stood by that word. This is just another example of how a government with a measured, calculated and nuanced approach can lead this nation through its toughest time in recent history.

Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the member for North Sydney's motion recognising the vital contribution temporary visa holders have made to this country. But I think it's a bit rich coming from the Morrison government. Let's not forget that they have abandoned temporary visa holders and workers and international students at every stage of this pandemic. It was this Morrison government that told temporary visa holders to go home when the pandemic hit, it was this Morrison government that left temporary visa holders out of the financial support packages during the many lockdowns we have all experienced, and it was this Morrison government that ignored their pleas for help—and now they have the gall to move this motion! The government must think Australians have the memories of goldfish. It was this Morrison government that left temporary visa holders out of the financial support packages during the many lockdowns we've all experienced. And it was this Morrison government that ignored their pleas for help. And now they have the gall to move this motion. The government must think Australians have the memories of goldfish.

But I can speak, and I will speak, for the many temporary visa holders in my electorate who reached out to me. Trust me: they won't forget. They won't forget missing meals to survive. They won't forget being out of work. They won't forget not being able to pay their rent. They won't forget the pleas for help that they made that fell on deaf ears, the support that they asked for from this government. They won't forget that they were ignored by the Morrison government. What this motion and this Morrison government also hide is the disingenuous nature of the migration policy, which is increasing temporary work visas at the cost of permanent migration, which has effectively built this country post World War II. As a nation we have a history of welcoming migrants and asking them to join us—not just temporarily but as new Australian citizens. Yet for eight years the Morrison government have moved by stealth to a guest worker model. While they ensure that we reap the benefits of economic growth that are a result of migration, they haven't given the migrants the other end of the equation—the long-term settlement and citizenship that come with permanent migration.

This government needs to be called out for its policy, which is at best confused but at worst deliberately misleading the public. Temporary migration has, and will have, its place if we have a genuine skills shortage, as we have had in the past. But it's also plagued by wage theft, breaches of workplace rights and poor conditions for workers. Pre COVID, a government report suggested as many as 50 per cent of temporary migrant workers were being underpaid in their employment. That is unacceptable. Every worker in Australia, no matter their circumstance—Australian citizen or international student—deserves the same rights at work. They deserve the same conditions and to be paid fairly at award rates. Increasing temporary visas by offsetting drops in permanent migration has been the policy of this government, breaking the immigration model at the heart of our success as a nation post World War II.

During the last election campaign the Prime Minister announced a congestion-busting reduction in our net migration, from 190,000 to 160,000. But, while he reduced permanent migration, he increased temporary work visas, and the estimates are that some 87 per cent of those temporary work visas are held by people who live in Melbourne and Sydney. So much for congestion busting. These temporary work visa holders are not brought here under the permanent migration policy, which has the primary goal of adding new citizens to our nation, with all that commitment entails. What this Morrison government is doing is appealing to those who still hold fears that migrants will steal our jobs.

I have long called for us to again embrace permanent skilled migration. It's Australia's history of permanent skilled migration that has made us one of the most economically prosperous and successful multicultural nations in the world. Immigrants like my parents from Egypt, and millions just like them, built the social and cultural capital that we have drawn from to become a successful nation. These are migrants who became new Aussies not just for a few years but to start new lives, for the rest of their lives.

If the Prime Minister wants more citizens contributing to our nation's success, he should increase permanent skilled migration rather than reduce it. The road out of COVID-19 gives us a chance to rethink as a nation. We have the chance to show vision and leadership. We have the chance to renew our commitment to permanent skilled migration and the welcoming of new Australians to this country to help rebuild and reconstruct this nation after what we've been through in the past two years. That's something that we have a vision for on this side of the House.

Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the previous member's contribution. However, if he wants to sit in on hearings of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, where we talk about bringing new Australians in to work in Australia, bringing people in from overseas, he will see that it's the Labor Party that opposes it every time. It's the Labor Party that says, 'These workers who are going to come into Australia are going to steal our jobs.' It's the Labor Party, driven by the unions, that oppose all of this. It's a bit rich to have someone all of a sudden saying this is a coalition fear. I think what we really have to understand is that the overseas workforce is such an important, critical component of not just agriculture but so many other industries. We need to embrace overseas workers—temporary, seasonal and also permanent. Greater Shepparton City, Moira Shire and Campaspe Shire councils have fought hard to create a Designated Area Migration Agreement for Goulburn Valley. These DAMAs are going to be critically important, as is the ag visa that Minister Littleproud has put together. They're going to be critically important for so many areas that need overseas workers.

It's been put by people opposed to these types of labour schemes that they're rife with people being exploited. It's not good enough if one per cent of one per cent is exploited. We have to do everything we can to ensure that overseas workers here in Australia are fairly paid and that exploitation is wiped out, but we also have to be careful that we don't let these people make this issue bigger than it actually is. They are simply weaponising this underpayment and wage theft issue to try and scuttle these programs. This is neither honest nor truthful. It is an incredibly minute number of people who have been exploited. We need to make sure that never happens so that the credibility of these overseas labour schemes is 100 per cent. That's something that is critically important for my electorate and critically important for many other regional and rural electorates.

It's not just some of these lower-paid dirty jobs where we're looking at labour shortages now; it's many of the trades. Trades that have been highly regarded for many years are struggling to find the workers that they need. In plumbing, tiling, roof tiling, plastering, painting and decorating, diesel mechanics, motor mechanics and many more the vacancies and availability of work that exists throughout regional Australia now are absolutely rife. The question we have to ask is: where are these workers going to come from? COVID has made it incredibly difficult, especially in hospitality. Nearly everywhere you go in Australia the hospitality offerings have got a little sign on the window saying 'jobs available' for waiters, waitresses, chefs, front of house, back of house. These are opportunities that possibly would have normally got picked up by overseas students who are no longer here in Australia because of COVID. So this is a very, very important issue.

I would just make sure that we don't attempt to rewrite history about the Labor Party. This is something that the Labor Party argue against point blank every time we get an opportunity to talk about migration policy. They've always been against bringing in overseas workers. They've always been against filling these vacancies with a ready-made workforce, because they have this inherent fear that somehow or other overseas workers are going to take Australian jobs. Well, the jobs that we're talking about are not being picked up by Australians at the moment. Australians are not putting their hand forward at the moment, as they haven't done historically and are probably not going to do so into the future. What we need to do is to look after our Australian businesses and give them the labour offerings they need so they can take their businesses forward.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allocated for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.