Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, there is a vast gap between the government’s rhetoric about this being only about skilled migrants for areas in which there are skills shortages and the reality of what is happening on the ground. We already know—and the minister referred to it in her answer—that in the meat industry there have been a great many allegations about the misuse of this visa: suggestions that the visa is being used for classifications that it should not be used for and suggestions that people are being underpaid. In fact, the minister has had to ensure that her department investigated one particular company in South Australia, and we note that it has taken her department five months to do that. What we do not know is what has not hit the media and how often the sorts of abuses and misuses of this visa class which have been indicated by the media as occurring in the meat industry have occurred in other areas.

Senator Vanstone was also asked by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate why it was that there were so many visas granted to persons working in occupations which were not on the list of skills shortages. The figures identified by Senator Evans included 43 waiters, 77 domestic housekeepers, 251 personal assistants and 1,594 elementary clerical workers. None of the occupations listed are on the list of skills shortages prepared by the department. I understand that the minister has taken some of the aspects of that question on notice, and I look forward to an indication as to why it is that there should be any visas in this category granted to persons with skills not on the skills shortage list if the justification for the granting of these visas is that the positions are not able to be filled by local workers.

The minister was also asked why it was that, of the some 50,000 people who entered Australia on this visa class last year, so few of the visas were issued in respect of occupations in which we do know there is a skills shortage in this country. That is largely, I hasten to add, as a result of this government’s failure to train Australians in its 10 long years in office. The sum total that we have been given is that , of those 50,000 people who entered Australia last year, there were 107 carpenters, 31 bricklayers, 25 plumbers and 13 plasterers. What comes to mind when you look at these figures is: why is it that occupations that are not listed on the department’s skills shortage list should be the subject of a 457 visa category? It is a very important policy question and, as yet, we are still waiting for an answer from Senator Vanstone about this issue.

There was another interesting figure that Senator Evans quoted—that is, that nine 457 visas were issued to panelbeaters. We know there is a bit of a skills shortage in Australia, but 25 visas were issued to caravan and camping ground workers. I do not know what other senators believe, but I certainly have not been inundated with constituents telling me that there is a skills shortage in the caravan and camping ground industry. One of the points that the minister has simply failed to properly address is the lack of a proper compliance system in relation to this visa category and the fact that there is no obligation on an employer who seeks to engage a person through the 457 visa program to offer the position to an Australian worker before employing a temporary foreign worker.

The reality is that, even with the official unemployment rate being where it is, we have over two million Australians in this country who are officially unemployed, underemployed or only marginally attached to the labour force. We have millions of Australian workers who would be able to fill skills categories if they were given the opportunity and the support from this government to ensure that they had the skills to do those jobs. But this government is not interested in training Australians. It has demonstrated a complete lack of political and policy leadership over the last 10 years, including by this minister who, as I recall, in her term as minister in the portfolio actually reduced the percentage of funding of training and education in the 1996-97 budget. We are reaping what we sow. There are at least two million Australians who could potentially gain the skills to fill many of these areas. Instead, we have a government that is intent on bringing foreign workers into Australia. (Time expired)