E&EO…………………………………………………………………………………………..
LEON BYNER:
Peter Dutton, Minister, thanks for joining us today.
PETER DUTTON:
Pleasure.
LEON BYNER:
I was just talking to Andrew Stewart – you know who he is and what he does – he made the point; look, okay, great move that they're going to restrict the ability of these fast food outlets to employ 457 visa holders, but why would those sorts of businesses be on the shortage of employment list in the first place?
PETER DUTTON:
Well the difficulty Leon is that if you look at a particular part of Adelaide, or a particular part of Darwin, a particular part of Sydney, whatever it might be, there is a different requirement for skill at a different point in time. So in Darwin at the moment they're finding it very difficult to get people to pick mangoes. They've got tonnes and tonnes of product that rot and can't get it to market. That skill is not required in Sydney or in inner city Adelaide and similarly with parts of the tourism industry, parts of retail, it's a different picture around the country and it changes over time so we have to have a system which is flexible.
What I've said though is that there are going to be some serious changes because I think the way in which Labor ran the 457 programme with the unions, it was exploited and for whatever reason, which they can explain, it conferred an advantage on foreign workers over Australian workers which I don't want. I want Australians into jobs, particularly in areas where we've got high youth unemployment.
So we are looking at the lists. We are tightening up. We are going to have further announcements to make, but I'm working as quickly as I can through cleaning up this mess that Labor presided over when they were in government.
LEON BYNER:
Alright. So according to data that we've got from you guys, 500 of these visas have been provided over say four years, that's not a lot. So what was the thing that made you think to yourself, okay, I'm going to act? Why this one?
PETER DUTTON:
There were arrangements that were coming to an end, so arrangements that Chris Bowen as Minister had entered into and they've expired or expired over a period of time and new applications are being made. And when I look at the youth unemployment in some areas, it's unacceptable that we would want to bring any foreign workers into that area when we've got young people sitting on the dole or not wanting to work and being displaced, if they do want to work, from that position because it's taken by somebody else.
So the reality is that we do want to get Australians into work, particularly young Australians. We want to provide as much support as we can to Australians who have worked all of their life, paid taxes; they are the ones who are most deserving of support. And if we're spending money on the social welfare system when jobs are available for young people in particular, then I think that's unacceptable to the Australian taxpayer.
LEON BYNER:
So, Peter, Minister, you are saying that this group of eligible, applied people who want to come here is going to be culled as to what professions we list, is that right?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes and I think we should look at the individual circumstances of a company or of a region and yes, I mean there are many parts of the country where they can't get Australians to work in those jobs – it frustrates me, it frustrates your listeners no doubt, particularly if there is high youth unemployment – but we need to do all that we can in the first instance to encourage those kids to get into jobs, to make the jobs firstly available to them and we can we look at particular areas where they might have shortages. It might be difficult, too expensive for people to travel to the Northern Territory or to the west coast or whatever it might be, we can look at those individual circumstances because I don't want food rotting on the vine, I don't want arrangements where businesses can't open because they can't properly staff without the use of foreign workers so they can't employ Australians if the business is not open.
So we need to get the balance right. My judgement is that Labor just had the balance wrong and I suspect it was about trying to get membership within the union movement, but that's for them to explain.
LEON BYNER:
I need to ask you this one though and I don't know whether you'll have a complete answer off the top of the head, but it's a fair point and that is that in South Australia we've got around about – and this is an average figure – around 17 per cent youth unemployment, in some areas it's a lot worse. What do you understand as the jobs that are unfilled, that are calling out? What data would you have? What's been said to you because you talked to Simon Birmingham and all these other people, so you'd have a feel for this, wouldn't you? What are the professions that we seem not to be able to fill?
PETER DUTTON:
Well there's a lot of argument that comes out of South Australia for additional migration to help the state grow. Now people have different views on that – but certainly not by Simon Birmingham or Christopher Pyne or Tony Pasin and others who are concerned about getting the South Australian community started – but the biggest employer perhaps of 457 visas, without the data in front of me, but my sense would be that it might likely be the South Australian Health Department ...
LEON BYNER:
…yes…
PETER DUTTON:
... the Health Departments are quite high and again it's an anomaly in my mind because you've got nurses who can't find work. Now if they've got specialist doctors that perform a particular surgery where they can't find that skill in the Australian market, well of course that's a different scenario, but the reality is that some of the state governments are big users of 457 visas. In fact, many unions facilitate foreign workers through the 457 programme to work in their own unions.
So it's a different picture as you move around the state, but that would be my sense in South Australia.
LEON BYNER:
Alright. Peter Dutton, thank you. That's the Immigration Minister clarifying his position.
[ends]