Pressure mounts on Turnbull over temporary worker visas
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is on the defensive over 457 visas after Nationals MP, George Christensen, backed Labor in calling for the visas to be cut-back. From The Age:
[Shorten] has been joined by Mr Christensen, a maverick Queensland conservative and avowed Trump supporter, who says “there is no need for the issuance of any further 457 foreign worker visas in our region” where unemployment is high.
“I will be writing to the Minister for Immigration, the Minister for Employment, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister today requesting that no further 457 visas be issued for jobs in the Central and North Queensland regions. After all, Australian jobs should be for Australian workers,” he said in a statement on Facebook…
Labor wants to force employers to demonstrate they have genuinely tested the Australian market prior to hiring foreign employees and make companies with large overseas-sourced workforces provide training schemes.
Meanwhile, Shadow Immigration Minister Shayne Neumann has taken aim at the temporary visa system more broadly. From The Australian:
Shadow Immigration Minister Shayne Neumann said numerous reports, including from the Committee of Economic Development Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman had highlighted complaints about the foreign worker system.
“About one in 10 complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman comes from temporary worker arrangements where people are being exploited, harassed,” he said.
“We saw recently situations where people have been underpaid, harassed, sexually harassed.
“The exploitation in areas such as agriculture, hospitality, retail are big challenges… There is plenty much evidence to say there has been exploitation in the areas not just in 457s, but working holiday visas, we want to make sure we clamp down on the exploitation, but prioritise training for Australians and jobs for Australians.”
Prime Minister Turnbull hit back, however, claiming that Bill Shorten is a hypocrite given the issuance of 457 visas exploded under the former Labor Government. From The Australian:
The Prime Minister said earlier the highest number of 457 visas had been granted when Mr Shorten was employment minister.
“It is around a third more 457 visas were granted when he was employment minister than have been granted over the last 12 months,” Mr Turnbull said.
“In terms of the construction sector, he granted twice as many 457 visas when he was minister as are being granted at the moment, so again, he was particularly good at bringing foreign workers into the construction sector.”
Malcolm Turnbull is on a hiding to nothing here. What does it matter if 457 visas were handed out in greater numbers under the former Labor Government? It’s the future that matters. The fact is there are nearly 200,000 457 visa holders in Australia, 80% of whom are not labour market tested and many of whom are working in semi-skilled roles (e.g. chefs, cooks and retail). This is ridiculous when there are so many unemployed and underemployed Australians (see yesterday’s post).
Further, there is unquestionable evidence that the temporary visa system is being rorted. This was revealed in all of its hideous glory by the recent Senate report entitled A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders, by the ABC’s 7.30 Report (see here), as well as via a variety of other scandals (e.g 7Eleven and Caltex).
Rather than pretending there is nothing wrong, while deflecting attention to boat people, Turnbull should address the myriad of flaws in Australia’s busted visa system.
