address to parliament - STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS - Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, which was established by the Coalition, has been embraced by industry and Pacific Island communities alike as a program that has efficiently reduced labour shortages, increased financial opportunities for workers and strengthened ties between Pacific countries and Australia; and

(b) the Government's union-backed reforms to the PALM scheme are a huge threat to farmers, consumers, Pacific workers and our foreign relations;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) farmers are now threatening to boycott the program which will force those from nine Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste to be paid a minimum of 30 hours a week, every week under Labor's plans; and

(b) the changes to the scheme were made without adequate consultation with stakeholders and the adverse reaction shows the Government needs to go back to the drawing board; and

(3) recognises that Labor's changes are being rammed through without warranted consideration and attention and have the potential to cause major disruptions to the scheme which would see an increase of labour shortages, a breakdown in Pacific relations and increased costs being passed onto the consumer at the grocery store.

I've moved this motion because it is an important one. It is absolutely imperative that the House notes that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, which was established by the Coalition, has been embraced by industry, particularly horticulture and Pacific Islander communities alike, because it is a program which has effectively reduced labour shortages, which are critical right throughout country Australia. It has increased financial opportunities for workers and it has strengthened ties, so very important, between Pacific countries and our nation.

The government's union backed reforms to the PALM scheme are a massive threat to farmers, to consumers, to Pacific workers and, indeed, to foreign relations. It is that serious. I would also like to acknowledge that farmers, particularly horticulturalists—those wonderful growers—are now threatening to boycott the program, which under Labor's plans would force those from nine Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste to be paid for a minimum of 30 hours a week every week. On the surface, that might seem great. That might seem necessary. But, as members know, farm work doesn't always happen when you want it to. There's the weather. There are such things as seasonal conditions. There are any number of impediments to farming and any number of impediments to enabling workers to be paid that minimum of 30 hours a week every week.

The changes to the scheme have been made without what you would think would be adequate consultation—more is the pity—and stakeholders are scratching their heads and wondering why. They're wondering why Labor has not reached out and asked them for their views. It is absolutely necessary for the government to go back to the drawing board on this, rather than just ramming this through the parliament. These changes have been made without the warranted consideration and attention, and they have the potential to cause major disruptions to the scheme. And that is going to see labour shortages. It is going to see higher grocery prices. It is going to see relations between Pacific countries and Australia affected.

Now, the PALM scheme is a staple of Australia's agricultural industry and its foreign affairs and diplomacy, but Labor's changes—that's 'Labor', as in the government—are causing a major exodus. The PALM scheme allows approved employers to hire workers from Pacific countries to fill roles in unskilled, low-skilled and semiskilled positions in rural and regional Australia—jobs that would just not be done. There'd be fruit which would just not be getting picked. And it's so vitally important, nationally, for our agricultural sector.

As of May this year, there were about 40,000 PALM scheme workers in Australia. They are a vital part not just of the farming sector but of those country communities. And the remittances they send home are vital for their own countries' gross domestic product. According to World Bank figures, 44 per cent of Tonga's GDP is made up of remittances sent home by those working abroad; in Samoa, it's 30 per cent; in Vanuatu, 21 per cent; in Fiji, nine per cent. They're a vital component of the GDP of those countries, those island nations.

The program has been subjected to multiple changes. Many, when we were in government, were good. They were done with proper and due consultation. But the union puppetmasters are pulling the same old tricks that you always see, that you come to know and come to expect, when Labor is in power. And it's happening again. There's a cacophony of red tape, created by the Canberra bubble, aided and abetted by the union puppetmasters, as I say. It's making the program unworkable for the 424 approved employers, and it jeopardises our Pacific diplomacy—and Pacific diplomacy at the moment is so important. Never before have we seen the challenges in this space that we are seeing now, and we all need to be on the same page when it comes to making sure that our Pacific friends are being looked after. Now, the unions will say, 'The workers need consistency and more balance;' I get that. But many of the workers prefer to come to Australia; they want to return home with more cash, but they want their jobs going forward. And these changes that Labor are making are not going to make that happen and they're going to make the scheme more unworkable, and it's just not going to be what it was in the past.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Stevens ): Is the motion seconded?

Mr Chester: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.