‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL HEALTH
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: migration numbers, working holiday makers, visa processing delays, productivity, overstayers, international student visa abuse,  harvest deadline, regional workforce shortages, Coalition migration priorities

Karvelas  

Well, the Coalition's official migration policy is to reduce net overseas migration, and depending on who you ask, they want to get it to below 180,000 per year, and tie that intake level directly to housing construction, but one Nationals MP is even calling for more working holiday visa holders to help farmers in the regions. I spoke to Nationals MP Anne Webster, also the Shadow Minister for Regional Health and Communications, a short time ago. Anne Webster, welcome to Afternoon Briefing.

Webster  

Thank you.

Karvelas  

The Coalition's messaging on migration has been around reducing the number of migrants, but today you're actually calling on the government essentially to have more migrants through working holiday makers. What do you want to see happen?

Webster  

Look, out in the regions, we rely on all kinds of visa holders. Working holiday makers have a particular job to do, when they come out, particularly to broadacre farming. They are managing multi-million dollar headers. They have a lot of skills that they bring - the same people from the UK, Ireland, Canada come out to the farmers who've been talking to me, and they know what they're doing. It's a very expensive operation. If they have it working right, then they can be pulling in $300,000 worth of grain a day. If it doesn't get right, and the government continues to push back and slow down the working holiday makers, then these farmers are really worried that the grain won't come off. And if it does come off and it's delayed, then it will not be top quality. It will not bring in the revenue for the country. Ultimately, this is about productivity, and so it is of grave concern to them that this slowdown under Tony Burke continues to happen.

Karvelas  

Well, one of the reasons for the slowdown is the amount of pressure your side of politics and others have put on the government to reduce that nom number, the net overseas migration. Is this the -  kind of - consequence of that, ultimately?

Webster  

Look, I absolutely agree with you. The pressure that is on the government to sort out the migration mess that has been created under them in not dealing with overstayers and in not managing the student numbers. Look, there is a whole range. The visa migration system is very complicated. Nobody, you know, denies that. However, working holiday makers, just like the PALM Scheme, have serious consequences if they're not operational for regional communities that drive GDP for the nation. It's not just about farmers doing well; it's about food security into the future. They have been facing significant pressure from a number of policy areas, and this is just the last one. So, harvest - the farmers are telling me yesterday when I was talking with them, and through the week when I was out in the electorate, they're telling me that they've got four weeks and they need to start harvesting. If these people that normally take one day, according to the department's website, these working holiday makers normally are approved in a day, and they can organise their flights and come out to Australia to do the work we desperately need to do.  

Karvelas  

One of the reasons for all of this, though, is because to actually get that NOM number down, all categories have to be reduced. Is there no scope, in your view, for reducing the number of working holiday makers?

Webster  

Well, the regions are where we suffer the most with lack of workforce. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about horticulture, agriculture, or aged care, other healthcare. You name the sector, and we suffer with low numbers of workforce. It's incredibly challenging, and so it is the Working Holiday Makers Program, and the PALM Scheme, and the sponsored employer-sponsored skilled migration that actually keeps agricultural and regional areas operational. They are seriously at risk because, from what I read, Tony Burke has also stopped prioritising the employer-sponsored skilled visa, and that's a problem too. We need these skilled people in Australia working in the regions because largely Australians don't want to do those jobs.  

Karvelas

Do you see there is a contradiction in this big crackdown that even your side of politics has been talking about vigorously, and at the same time, regional MPs like you saying we need more people?

Webster

Well, we need the same people. I'm not saying that we need to, you know, open the floodgates. It's not about that. It's about the normal process of working holiday makers coming into Australia doing their job. The issue with migration, as I think Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan have made very plain, is about not having the housing, not having the services, and that is a serious problem for Australians. You know, we talk about first home buyers not being able to find a house. Well, that's one of the other reasons playing into the state of affairs that we're facing in Australia now.

Karvelas  

So, the government is quietly cracking down on international students as well. We've got ... we've had Julian Hill on the program, who has actually gotten rid of a graduate diploma the government suspects was being used for course hopping to extend visas. Do you welcome that?

Webster  

Yeah, absolutely. I read that this morning, and congratulate Julian on doing that. I suspect that there is a lot more work that needs to be done. However, but we also want people who are guilty of crimes which the government has not been able to eject from Australia. We want those people also dealt with, also the overstayers. There is a whole lot of work that has not been done by the government that has left us in this mess. So, hence my plea to the government is: please, Tony, open the doors and get the processes going for working holiday makers because our farmers desperately need them. The harvest will not wait for the government to take its time on sorting out the visa mess that is now playing out. The working holiday makers is not where they should be slowing things down...

Karvelas  

But they can't get the number  ... they can't get the lower number though, if they don't go for all the visa areas. Isn't that the wicked issue here?

Webster  

Well, I would debate that. I think that there are some visas that have had a tendency, such as the student visa, to play into a lot of the problems that we're facing. The overstayers on those student visas, people who've come on visitor tourist visas who are also overstaying ...  there are other places the government can go to bring down the number, and they're not doing that. And to go after regional communities where our food and fibre comes from is absolutely unacceptable.

Karvelas  

Thank you so much for joining us.

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