ID :
16652
Fri, 08/22/2008 - 16:39
Auther :
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http://m.oananews.org//node/16652
The shortlink copeid
Nats break ranks to support visa scheme
AAP - Victorian backbencher John Forrest has joined a growing list of National MPs lining up to support the Rudd government's Pacific guest worker scheme.
The scheme would see 2,500 workers from Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Papua NewGuinea being given temporary work visas to perform seasonal agricultural work.
Farmers' organisations had been lobbying the government to introduce a guest workerscheme since Labor came to power.
Griffith in NSW and Swan Hill in Victoria have been suggested as regions where thethree-year pilot scheme may operate.
Nationals member for the NSW seat of Riverina, Kay Hull, has been a vocal advocateof the scheme.
Mr Forrest, the federal member for Mallee, said he'd been an advocate of such aprogram for more than a decade.
"I've been working on the need for this program for more than a decade," Mr Forrestsaid.
"I'm representing my electorate, we badly want a program like this, we've argued for it for years and subject to the detail, I'm supporting it." The Nationals MPs are at odds with Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson, who hasconcerns about the program.
Dr Nelson has questioned why overseas workers are needed while Australia had 500,000unemployed.
Jobs were going begging in Australia, but "dirt poor people from Pacific countries"were being brought to Australia to do the work, he said.
Ms Hull said she was not sure where Dr Nelson was getting his advice.
"You simply cannot live in a city electorate and make these decisions without recognising the absolute dire circumstances that are existing in my electorate andother electorates," she told ABC Radio.
"My growers have been trying to source Australian labour for so long, they are almost on their knees through drought, and then they're expected to watch theircrops rot because they are not able to access labour.
"That is heartbreaking, it is crushing."Mrs Hull believes the concerns Dr Nelson has raised can be addressed.
"I am not sure where the advice is coming on this and I'm, you know, I am aware that if there were concerns about health issues and criminal checks and etc, that there are significant guidelines and criteria to be put in place to cover all of those aspects." Queensland National Ron Boswell has also given in principle support to the use ofguest workers in horticultural industries.
Fellow Queensland Barnaby Joyce says there must be a way to get workers to wherethey are needed.
"Quite obviously in certain areas in regional Australia there is a strongrequirement for labour that you can't get from other areas," he told ABC radio.
"There are certain jobs that you just can't get employees to do and if that leaves fruit rotting or abattoirs not working then that's not a good outcome." Australia's Agriculture Minister Tony Burke says he's given up trying to understandBrendan Nelson's position on the new guest worker scheme.
Mr Burke, who is in Jakarta for talks with his Indonesian counterparts, said theprogram would have the same security checks as other visas.
"The security rules and principles that are used are the same security principlesthat are used when anyone applies for a visa," he said.
"I'm still trying to unpick the differences between his position that the scheme should be abolished, his small business spokesperson said the scheme should be expanded, his foreign affairs spokesman who is cautious but not negative about the scheme and any member of the National Party who seems willing to speak, who iswildly enthusiastic about the scheme.
"Whether Brendan Nelson is putting forward a position on behalf of the opposition or not, I've given up trying to work that out." Mr Burke said none of the Indonesian ministers he had met during his brief trip hadexpressed interest in joining the scheme.
"It's not been raised with me in meetings with ministers," he said.
"That's not to say that there might not be interest here, but I think people have recognised the comments which we have made - that government is starting with a pilot and we are starting in a modest fashion."
The scheme would see 2,500 workers from Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Papua NewGuinea being given temporary work visas to perform seasonal agricultural work.
Farmers' organisations had been lobbying the government to introduce a guest workerscheme since Labor came to power.
Griffith in NSW and Swan Hill in Victoria have been suggested as regions where thethree-year pilot scheme may operate.
Nationals member for the NSW seat of Riverina, Kay Hull, has been a vocal advocateof the scheme.
Mr Forrest, the federal member for Mallee, said he'd been an advocate of such aprogram for more than a decade.
"I've been working on the need for this program for more than a decade," Mr Forrestsaid.
"I'm representing my electorate, we badly want a program like this, we've argued for it for years and subject to the detail, I'm supporting it." The Nationals MPs are at odds with Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson, who hasconcerns about the program.
Dr Nelson has questioned why overseas workers are needed while Australia had 500,000unemployed.
Jobs were going begging in Australia, but "dirt poor people from Pacific countries"were being brought to Australia to do the work, he said.
Ms Hull said she was not sure where Dr Nelson was getting his advice.
"You simply cannot live in a city electorate and make these decisions without recognising the absolute dire circumstances that are existing in my electorate andother electorates," she told ABC Radio.
"My growers have been trying to source Australian labour for so long, they are almost on their knees through drought, and then they're expected to watch theircrops rot because they are not able to access labour.
"That is heartbreaking, it is crushing."Mrs Hull believes the concerns Dr Nelson has raised can be addressed.
"I am not sure where the advice is coming on this and I'm, you know, I am aware that if there were concerns about health issues and criminal checks and etc, that there are significant guidelines and criteria to be put in place to cover all of those aspects." Queensland National Ron Boswell has also given in principle support to the use ofguest workers in horticultural industries.
Fellow Queensland Barnaby Joyce says there must be a way to get workers to wherethey are needed.
"Quite obviously in certain areas in regional Australia there is a strongrequirement for labour that you can't get from other areas," he told ABC radio.
"There are certain jobs that you just can't get employees to do and if that leaves fruit rotting or abattoirs not working then that's not a good outcome." Australia's Agriculture Minister Tony Burke says he's given up trying to understandBrendan Nelson's position on the new guest worker scheme.
Mr Burke, who is in Jakarta for talks with his Indonesian counterparts, said theprogram would have the same security checks as other visas.
"The security rules and principles that are used are the same security principlesthat are used when anyone applies for a visa," he said.
"I'm still trying to unpick the differences between his position that the scheme should be abolished, his small business spokesperson said the scheme should be expanded, his foreign affairs spokesman who is cautious but not negative about the scheme and any member of the National Party who seems willing to speak, who iswildly enthusiastic about the scheme.
"Whether Brendan Nelson is putting forward a position on behalf of the opposition or not, I've given up trying to work that out." Mr Burke said none of the Indonesian ministers he had met during his brief trip hadexpressed interest in joining the scheme.
"It's not been raised with me in meetings with ministers," he said.
"That's not to say that there might not be interest here, but I think people have recognised the comments which we have made - that government is starting with a pilot and we are starting in a modest fashion."
