Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fierravanti-Wells for the question. There has been some recent publicity—and it has been raised in this chamber—on the issue of 457 visa holders working in restaurants in Canberra. Senator Lundy has shown a particular interest in this and has been quite outspoken on it. In my view, she attempted to score some cheap points on this matter in the Senate on 8 February when she said:

... the Howard government seems to be encouraging exploitation.

It was all our fault, apparently. We investigated the claims—we said we would. Where they were proven, some people or companies are being prosecuted. It is true that there were problems with the salaries of seven Filipino chefs. We sanctioned the employers who were in breach. We found new sponsors for the majority of the Filipino chefs who wanted to keep working, and they are now working in Canberra keeping Canberra businesses up and running.

But Senator Lundy and the Labor spin machine and their union mates claim that 457 visa holders are responsible for driving down pay and conditions for Australians. The facts are that the Labor Party wants to deal in fear on these matters and what we want to deal in is the facts. This issue being raised meant that the office of workplace safety wanted to conduct a broader audit of Canberra restaurants. It is a bit like the matters of Rau and Alvarez, where I said, ‘If there is one problem, there might be more; let’s go and have a look and clean it up.’ The office of workplace safety in Canberra said, ‘Let’s go and have a look.’ So they did.

They found 48 restaurants in Canberra underpaying or not providing appropriate entitlements to employees. But how many of these 48 restaurants had 457 visa holders on their books? Only six of the 48 restaurants that were underpaying in Canberra had 457 visa holders in them. How many employees did the audit find were being underpaid? There were 164. How many of them were 457 workers? Absolutely none. Why is that? It is because the Filipino 457 visa holders had the courage to raise the issues in a way that others did not. Because it was investigated and because they were not indentured, this audit was undertaken.