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

I thank Senator McGauran. The benefits of the current system, where we work not in cooperation with ethnic communities to build our vote but in cooperation with the states to bring in the people they need to get their factories and their businesses going well are that we have cooperative federalism. The states and territories—all with Labor governments—are working in close cooperation with the Australian government in this matter. At the moment we have some skills expos in London, Manchester and Dublin. Mr President, you might be surprised to know, given what you hear from Labor opposite, that every Labor state and territory has a booth at those stalls. They are up there saying: ‘Come on down!—and come quickly; come in on a 457 visa. We need you. We want our factories to churn out the goods. We want our people to get more jobs.’ They are all there. It is a fair bet that the state and territory governments went to the skills expo we had in India, which I am sure the federal opposition would not have done. (Time expired)