Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about something that the government does not seem particularly interested in—and that is jobs. And, no, I am not talking about the Prime Minister's job, or the immigration minister's job, or even the 'very, very mediocre job' being done by the Attorney-General and his mates in the LNP in Queensland. I am talking about jobs for people from my home state of Queensland, especially in regional Queensland—people who are afraid of being left behind by our globalised economy, people who are being passed over or taken advantage of by dodgy employers. If you listen to the government, you would be fooled into thinking that these people did not even exist. My message to the government is that maybe they should spend a little bit less time worrying about their own jobs and little bit more time talking to real Queenslanders and real Australians about their jobs. That is exactly what I did last Friday. I travelled to Rockhampton in Central Queensland to host a roundtable with local union and community leaders to discuss Labor's plan to help more Australians into good local jobs.

Rockhampton is in the Fitzroy region of Queensland and that region has been hit hard by the economic downturn over the last few years. Unemployment in the Fitzroy region is running at 5.8 per cent and youth unemployment is even higher at 8.6 per cent. That is before we even get to the issue of underemployment, where people are not able to get the hours of work that they either want or need to pay their bills.

Despite the number of local residents in the Fitzroy region looking for work, currently there are 665 overseas workers in that region working on 457 visas. As I have said in all of my public statements, Labor absolutely agrees that there will always be a place for overseas workers in Australia to meet areas of genuine skill shortages, but we do have very serious concerns about the abuse of 457 visas by some dodgy employers both to overlook local workers and also to exploit overseas workers on much lower wages and conditions than are fair in a country like Australia.

My roundtable in Rockhampton last week showed that indeed 457 visa rorts are a very big issue for workers in Central Queensland. Local jobseekers are fed up with dodgy employers avoiding fair wages and conditions by flying in overseas workers on 457 or other work visas to do jobs that locals could be doing on local wages and conditions. At the roundtable, I spoke to Paul from the meat workers' union about workers and friends of his who had been let go from the local meatworks, which is one of the largest employers in the region, only to be replaced by workers on 457 and 417 visas. Some of Paul's friends had been working at the meatworks for over a decade and had taken a lot of pride in their work but found themselves laid off and overlooked in favour of cheaper overseas labour.

Similar problems were raised at the roundtable by representatives of the mining and manufacturing industries, so this is a very widespread problem in Central Queensland. Job losses like these are devastating to communities like Rockhampton and many other regional centres in Queensland. I also spoke to several attendees who were worried about the fate or their children or grandchildren and their chances of accessing training or jobs locally. One of the other really big complaints that day was that too often there are employers locally who are not properly investing in training and who are not putting on apprentices or giving young people opportunities to enter the workforce. One of the other concerns was the use of 417 visas, which are supposed to be for backpackers and working holidaymakers, being used by employers for lower-skilled positions and depriving local young people of entry-level jobs that they could use as stepping stones to more highly skilled jobs in the future.

It was fitting, on that note, that last Friday when I held the roundtable was the last day of school for a lot of Queensland year 12s. These kids are now ready to begin the next leg of their journeys of life and they are excited for the future. It is really important that politicians ensure that our laws and regulations are structured in a way that do give young people opportunities by providing job and training opportunities. It is our job as legislators to make sure that kids leaving school know that they do have opportunities within their own local communities—again, this is the importance of making sure that employers are properly investing in training young people rather than taking the easy way out and bringing in overseas workers on lower wages and conditions.

Unlike the government, who have no plan to secure jobs for Australians, the Labor Party is committed to making sure that, when it comes to local jobs, locals get a fair go. That is why we will toughen rules so that, where there are locals willing to learn and work, employers will have to make a genuine effort to advertise and fill jobs locally before turning overseas. We will introduce a requirement that jobs be advertised for a minimum of four weeks. The situation we have at the moment is that, as long as an employer has advertised a position once in the preceding 12 months, if they have not managed to find someone for a particular position, they can find someone for a 457 visa or 417 visa and bring them in rather than making sure that they are consistently looking for local people instead. The new requirement that Labor will insist on is that jobs are advertised for a minimum of four weeks within four months of an overseas worker being hired. This will make a really big difference and put a lot more pressure on employers to do the right thing and genuinely look locally first.

In addition, we will ban job advertisements that only target overseas workers. We think it is important that local workers do have first dibs before getting to situations where overseas workers might be needed. As I have mentioned, too many young jobseekers are being overlooked by employers who are not interested in investing in training for locals. We do recognise that there are situations where an overseas workforce is required, but under Labor's proposal employers who do use a large number of overseas workers must have a training plan in place to train local workers.

Labor's plan is not just going to be beneficial for locals and young local jobseekers. It is actually beneficial for all workers. When overseas workers arrive in Australia, we see far too many instances where they are being exploited by their employers and forced to work for less pay, sometimes in downright dangerous workplaces. The litany of scandals go on day by day—7-Eleven, Caltex and fruit picking. There are so many situations in Australia at the moment where we are finding employers bringing in overseas workers and paying them below the EBA or below award rates and conditions. People often feel very threatened and isolated in their workplace and feel they cannot make complaints about their wages and conditions or workplace safety. That is not the kind of Australian workplace that we want to see for either overseas workers or local workers. That kind of exploitation not only hurts foreign workers; it undermines Australian wages and safety standards and hurts us all.

While I was up in Rockhampton, it became very clear to me—if I did not know already, which I did—that the issue of jobs and unemployment is a really key issue in Central Queensland. I have made a commitment to spend even more time in Central Queensland next year, particularly talking to people about what we can do to create jobs in the local area and protect those jobs that already exist. As part of that, I will make sure that I take the outcomes of those discussions directly to Labor's leadership so that we can see more policies like this which really respond to local circumstances.

It was also very clear when I was in Rockhampton that locals feel totally abandoned by this government, which is not looking out for their best interests. Unfortunately, it would appear that the member Capricornia, Michelle Landry, does not take these issues seriously and does not want to stand up for the needs of local workers, to make sure that they do get the best opportunities to take local jobs. A week on from Labor's announcement to crack down on 457 visa rorts we still have not heard anything from the member for Capricornia about what she is going to do to tackle this issue. She remains totally silent; she continues to say and do nothing about local employment, while training and jobs remain big issues for her region. While Ms Landry herself was not prepared to make comments herself about this issue, luckily for her, her white knight Senator Canavan came to the rescue. He had all sorts of comments to make in the local media. As he is wont to do, he spent a lot of time attacking me. Interestingly, in his comments he did not talk about 457 visas whatsoever. Well, I do not know about you, Mr Acting Deputy President, but I find it embarrassing that Rockhampton locals cannot rely on their lower house representative or their locally based senator to actually stand up for them about an issue that is of deep concern there.

Senator Canavan spoke about this issue yesterday in the Senate. Again, he criticised me for being up there in Rockhampton talking about this issue and said that he thought that there were only about 300 people in the area on 457 visas, when in fact there are over 600. He also said that talking about this issue does not make sense to him. Well it does make a lot of sense to people in Rockhampton. They are very concerned about job options for themselves and for their kids. If the local representatives are not prepared to stand up, I certainly am.