Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator Cash. I refer the minister to the subclass 457 visa program—much maligned by some in the Labor Party and indeed the union movement. Will the minister advise the Senate of any recent take-up in Australia's temporary skilled visa program?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think all Australians know that the union and the Labor Party have run for many, many years now a concerted campaign—and a malicious one—against foreign workers. You can imagine then Australians' disbelief when it was revealed that a number of trade unions have sponsored 457 workers to the tune of at least 41. In fact Senator Lines—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Colleagues! Colleagues! Colleagues, please: let's get this on the record, so Senator Lines can respond. Senator Lines's union, United Voice, currently sponsors no less than nine subclass 457 visa workers in their offices. Of course then we have the Maritime Union of Australia—who are consistently defended by Senator Sterle in this place—great haters of overseas labour, who have sponsored a number of 457 workers.

But the hypocrisy and duplicity of Labor and the union movement does not end there. Who can forget Tony Sheldon of the TWU, who said that the use of 457 workers was a form of slavery? Senator Conroy, Senator Sterle and Senator Gallacher: you will be very pleased to know that the TWU has also sponsored a number of 457 workers despite the fact that this is a form of slavery.

Of course, not to leave out others: the Australian Workers' Union, the Finance Sector Union and the National Tertiary Education Union have all sponsored 457 workers in the past five years—hypocrisy at its very best.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister further inform the Senate of the extensive use of the 457 visa program, including some of the most commonly sponsored occupations?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senators may find it hard to believe on this side but workplace relations adviser is the most commonly sponsored occupation by the union movement. One would think that there are clearly not enough qualified workplace relations advisers in Australia in the Senate and they cannot be sponsored by the trade unions.

Hold on: we have another occupation—that of copywriter. Who can forget the most famous 457 employer—over to you, Senator Cameron; you know where this one is going? John McTernan, Julia Gillard's communications director on a 457 visa. Despite the fact that there are thousands of journalists looking for jobs in Australia, the union movement goes overseas to get workplace relations advisers and communications directors. You have to be kidding me.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. It gives me great delight to ask the final supplementary question. Will the minister advise the Senate how many 457 visa holders there are in Australia; and how do these figures compare with previous governments?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Statistics tell a very interesting story because, under the Abbott government, the number of primary subclass 457 visa holders in Australia as at 31 July 2015 was 101,970. That in fact represents a decrease of 7.5 per cent since the election of the Abbott government.

Senator Cameron will be very interested to know, because I am sure he would defend this, that under his government the number of 457 visa holders grew from 60,000 primary visa holders at the beginning of 2010 to approximately 110,000 in September 2013 when Labor lost office. So the next time anyone on the other side comes into this place and says, 'There is an increase in foreign workers under this government', you are wrong!