Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation) Share this | Hansard source

To follow on from the senator opposite, what he says does not make sense if you take into account the fact that 2,000 IT graduates cannot find work because they have been displaced by workers on 457 visas. The IT industry represents a very good example of where this system is failing, because it is not an industry whose employment standards have been based on awards traditionally; a lot of it has been done by independent contractors anyway. Therefore, it is highly susceptible to skilled migrant workers coming in on 457 visas and undercutting what is the going market rate for independent contractors in IT. When you look at what is going on in the IT industry, the government’s whole argument falls apart—that is, that these visas are only being used to fill the massive skills gap that they created.

Let us look at the link between the skills gap and the government’s policy. There is no doubt that the reason that so many skills gaps have been created is that the government, in stark contrast to all the other OECD governments, have actually reduced the investment in skills and education development in Australia over the last 10 years. Where everyone else is growing it, they are reducing it. That is absolutely ridiculous in a modern economy. I hear bleating from senators across the chamber that the skills shortage is a sign of the good economy. The skills shortage exists because there has been such poor investment in skills development in these areas over the last 10 years. That is what created the gaps in the first place.

There is a more sinister motivation for the government’s handling of 457 visas. It appears to be directly linked to what Minister Vanstone has put on record now—that is, that it is about keeping wages low. It is impossible to provide a fair assessment of what is going on with the 457 visa scheme without also taking into account the government’s aspiration to push wages lower, through their extreme industrial relations agenda. That is really the untold story, the part of the story that the minister forgets to speak of when she answers the opposition’s questions. What is going on here is the potential for not just the displacement of local skilled workers—and we know there is the potential for that because of what has happened in the IT industry—but also the exploitation of skilled migrant workers coming to Australia. We know, because of what has happened in Canberra restaurants, that that potential is real. The government have been caught on the back foot, well and truly, because the exploitation of skilled workers has been exposed.

When Labor asks questions about the level of wages and the fear of displacement, it is about protecting the interests of Australian workers, yes, but also of migrant workers. What right do the government have to create a scheme that allows these people to come here and be exploited by Australian employers? We can look at the legislative program of the government to see that they have acted very quickly to try to shore up the massive gaps that have appeared in this scheme, including introducing penalties for employers for the first time ever. Let us get this clear: under the Migration Act there was no penalty on employers who breached the conditions of the 457 visa. There was no penalty whatsoever, except that they were not allowed to do it again. It seems to me that the Howard government are trying to move to beef that up a bit to try to preserve their reputation. There has been such poor management of the 457 visa scheme that employers have been able to exploit it to underpay migrant workers. That is unacceptable.

True to form, the minister marched in here the other day and said that they have uncovered, through the investigations into migrant workers, the fact that local workers have been underpaid as well. I presume there are now cases being prepared for prosecution, and penalties will apply and moneys will be owed. The minister does not mention that all those cases date from a time when the award system was still in place. This minister fails to mention that the government’s whole defence about maintaining the system falls apart if you apply Work Choices legislation. The fact that Work Choices destroys the award system means that they are destroying any sound basis for a skilled migration program to work effectively—one where migrant workers are not exploited and Australian workers are not unfairly displaced by people on lower wages. Let us state the facts: the government need to come clean and fess up that they have handled it badly. (Time expired)