ROSS GREENWOOD:
Let’s now go to Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull who is online right now, many thanks for your time Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah great to be with you.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Can I just say the headline of this: ‘Putting Australian Workers First’, it did resonate something of Donald Trump in his inauguration speech, basically saying it was time to put American workers first and America first, is that what you’re trying to pick up?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we’re putting Australian workers first and Australian jobs first. And I think every national leader should seek to do that. Whether you’re the Prime Minister of Australia or the President of the United States so it’s a commitment to protecting our national interests.
And our migration programme Ross has got to work in our national interest. It’s got to deliver, obviously the immigration that we need and the skills that we need when we don’t have them here, but above all its got to serve our national interest.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Okay the Government has been in power for three and a half years, why has it taken three and a half years for the Government to act upon this when what was quite clear for some time is that it wasn’t acting in the national interest before this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Ross, the important thing is we are getting it done now. There is always, it’s always the question when you do something good, make a good reform to say 'why didn’t you do it last week or last month or last year' - we are getting on with it now-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Well, two years ago-
PRIME MINISTER:
Well obviously, two years ago I wasn’t Prime Minister but the important thing is that the work has been done, it’s quite a detailed exercise, there has been a lot of consultation with industry naturally, Peter Dutton has done that, Michaelia Cash, the Employment Minister, have done that - so there has been a lot of work that has gone through our very thorough process and this is a reform that will deliver the outcome we need - Australian jobs for Australian workers, migration working in the national interest but still being able to ensure that where business cannot get the skills filled by Australians at a particular time then they have got mechanisms to bring those workers in on these temporary, the new, temporary visas.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Okay. I have noticed that Cory Bernardi today says that you’re being squeezed basically by the conservatives inside your party to take such tactics - is that correct?
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely not. Absolutely not correct. I mean, this is a long term policy development that has been going on for some time.
As Peter Dutton observed today there was a review done on this by John Azaria some time ago.
This is, this is a very detailed exercise. It is not about politics - it’s about policy. It’s not about playing Canberra press gallery games - it is about delivering more jobs for more Australians. It is putting Australians first.
The fact is that this 457 Visa lost all credibility under the Labor Party, under Bill Shorten.
Additional conditions were put on it after the Coalition came into Government in 2013, so the situation was improved under Tony Abbott’s prime ministership and continuing, but what we needed to do was to have a root and branch reform and that is what we have delivered today.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Is this an acknowledgement that many Australian families right now are struggling because of the casualisation of the Australian workforce? And the truth is that there are many families even now we know in mortgage stress simply because they cannot get the hours that they could’ve got perhaps two or three years ago.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Ross, you are right that underemployment, people not being able to work the hours that they need is a big problem. Now we have added hundreds of thousands of jobs over the time.
We have wound back, over the time of the Coalition Government, we have wound back the number of 457 visa workers in Australia from about 110,000 at the time the government changed in late 2013 to 95,000 today, because basically the 457s were a four-year visa and they could be renewed so they very often ended up in a permanent migration-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Because once a person was here for five years, they could apply for Australian Citizenship?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they, they could certainly apply for permanent residence, yes, and citizenship and so forth. So the new arrangement, you come here on the, there is a short term skilled shortage visa which is two years and can only be renewed once. So it’s two plus two and then you’ve got to go home. And you can apply again from home, I suppose, well you can.
And then there is a medium term visa which will be four years and the list of occupations on the medium term visa is much shorter - it’s not 600 plus as it was on the 457s, it is less than 200 - and it will be, both it and the short term visas list will be updated regularly and reviewed regularly. The short term one every six months and the medium term one every 12 months to make sure that it reflects the skills shortages that exist in the country, you know, in Australia at the moment.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
You mentioned that there were 95,000 people on these 457 Visas in Australia right now-
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, right now, there are yep.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Have you got a target as to what you would like to see them reduced to?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Ross, the answer is that we want to have, where a skill, where a vacancy arises, we want it to be filled by an Australian. If, however that is a position where the employer cannot find an Australian to fill that job and the skill is on the list then they are able to bring in somebody from overseas under the new arrangements. But they’ve got to be able to demonstrate that they’ve tested the market and that they cannot find an Australian.
What happened was, Labor made it - look I don’t want to get into a political partisan thing but just being frank about it - Labor made this a rort, I mean, Bill Shorten had people coming out here on 457s to flip burgers at McDonalds. Now, I’m sorry, you know? I’m not-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
But wasn’t that a sign of the time though Prime Minister, when we had a mining boom and we had people running off to the mines to make their fortunes, there was a shortage of burger flippers in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, no, that was not the case.
Can I tell you two thirds of the people that came in under Labor’s time ended up in Sydney and Melbourne and less than 10 per cent of the additional people that came on 457s in Labor’s last term in government, less than 10 per cent were involved in the mining or mining construction sectors.
So this argument that Shorten says that he was responding to the mining construction boom is not right. The facts are there.
These were not mining engineers and you know, sort of metallurgists and geologists or anything like that. This became a rort and it basically displaced a lot of Australians from entry level jobs.
I mean, under Labor and under the 457 scheme as it stands you don’t even have to demonstrate that you’ve had work experience. Now one of the things we are doing-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Or indeed that you haven’t had a criminal check as you come into the country.
PRIME MINISTER:
Correct.
So these are the changes that we making. I mean fundamental changes.
You’ve got to have at least two years of relevant work experience that makes sense doesn’t it?
You’re going to have to demonstrate that you’ve got competent English and for the medium term we are raising the level of English required.
You’ve got to demonstrate that you’ve got a, you know, your criminal history check and its got to be supported by a certificate from the police from wherever you’re coming.
Now these are all really important changes that protect the integrity of the migration system, ensure that the people who come here are the right people, they’ve got the right skills that are needed and they’re not displacing Australians from jobs, particularly those entry level jobs which are so important for young Aussies to get into the workforce.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Okay. You’re a big supporter of technology, you’ve been there in your past as well. Mike Cannon-Brookes the boss of Atlassian, one of the real leaders in technology in Australia is a big supporter of 457 Visas and he says that his business would not be able to be based in Australia without the skills and the technology that comes from people from overseas. Do you think his business and others like that would be affected by this decision today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well if the skill, if the skills that he needs cannot be filled by Australians then the new system will enable it to be filled from people from overseas.
But what Mike’s going to have to do - and look he is a very patriotic Australian, he will do this - what he’s got to do is demonstrate that he’s tested the market, that he can’t find Australians to do the work and I know that he will be doing everything he can to make sure that there are young Australians getting the skills, getting the training to do the work that he needs.
And we will make sure, and we’ll make more announcements about this in the budget, but there will be a very significant training component in all of this to make sure that Australians get the training to do the jobs.
At the end of the day, look, migration, Ross, we are a migration nation. We’re the most successful multicultural society in the world. We are proud of our migration record, our migration system but it has got to serve our national interest. And the fundamental requirement that we have, and every other country has is to protect our own citizens. Our Australians for Australian jobs.
Now where an Aussie can’t fill the job because there isn’t anyone with the skills required then the system will enable someone to be brought in.
So this is going to restore integrity to the system, it’s going to deliver for business but it’s going to also ensure that where the job can be filled by an Australian it will be.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
OK, you’ve cracked down on 457 Visas. Kate Carnell, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman says most of the rorts are happening in student visas or those on holiday visas or backpacker visas. Is that something also that you will now crack down upon?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, if by what you mean is rorts is people you know not being paid in accordance with the law-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Oh, truck drivers who are basically known as steerers because they drive trucks on our highways in dangerous fashion-
PRIME MINISTER:
Ross, what you’re talking about there is breaches of the law and the Department of Immigration, the Department of Employment and, of course, you know, law enforcement agencies in the states and territories have all got a role to play in ensuring that the law is complied with.
And as you know we have cracked down on people being underpaid in a number of fast food convenience store chains. So there is a law enforcement role here.
But the fundamental problem we’ve got, we’ve had with the 457s is that there has not been a sufficient effort to protect Australian jobs. The list of occupations was far too long. I mean, as you know it included, I mean, for example-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Radio journalists for goodness’ sake!
PRIME MINISTER:
Well radio journalists, that’s right. I would have thought-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Flying instructors were there.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Actor, can’t get an actor apparently. Singer, apparently there’s no Australian singers. Potter or ceramic artistic-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Historians.
PRIME MINISTER:
I mean yes.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Astonishing. Now Prime Minister wasn’t on the list, I had a look Malcolm Turnbull I must admit. Just look, a final one for you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Park ranger, apparently you can’t get a park ranger in Australia according to this list the Labor Party presumably-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
A betting agency manager. Anyway, we’ll leave that aside.
I notice that your colleague Warren Entsch has called on the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to quit Parliament if he cannot stop criticizing the Government. Is Warren Entsch right?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look I won’t buy into that other than to say that every member of the Government, of the party room, has got a lot to talk about in terms of our achievements. I mean you think about it. Just think about what-
ROSS GREENWOOD:
So is Tony Abbott right in his criticisms? He was on the Ray Hadley programme on this network just the other day - he was critical of your Government, I mean, and yet he’s a member of that Government. Is he right to offer those criticisms in the public forum?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m not sure what criticism you’re referring to but I just say this to you - there’s a lot of things that every member of my party room can point to the achievements that we have made.
We’ve secured tax cuts for middle income Australians.
We’ve secured tax cuts for small and medium companies.
We’ve secured the passage of the industrial legislation - restoration to Building and Construction Commission.
Restoring the rule of law to the union, to unions.
I mean these are big achievements and there are many others.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
He did indicate that he thinks that maybe that Bill Shorten is likely to be the next Prime Minister the way things are going.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you know something, that’s why it’s really important for all of, every member of the Coalition Party to focus on the achievements of the Government, our agenda.
We have got more through the Senate - we’ve got more of our agenda delivered since the election than we did in the previous three years with the previous Senate.
So yes we’ve got a one seat majority in the House of Representatives and we certainly don’t have anything like a majority in the Senate as you know but nonetheless we keep on getting things done.
We delivered our child care reforms. They’d been held up for years. We’ve delivered them.
We’ve delivered the reforms to the vocational education sector.
So you know one big reform after another, getting them through the Senate.
How many people said we’d never get any changes to company tax through? You know how important that is, how important it is for businesses to be competitive. We’ve got more than half of Australian employees work for businesses, small business or small and medium companies that are now going to have a tax cut as a result of those reforms. They’ll have more money to invest, they’ll have more incentive to employ.
These are big reforms that are driving economic growth.
And look at what we’ve done on energy. We’ve secured Snowy Hydro 2.0. Making sure that gas is available at peaking times in the summer.
My Government is delivering and so there’s a lot to be proud of, a lot to talk about and obviously a lot more to do.
ROSS GREENWOOD:
Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, we appreciate your time on the programme this evening.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Ross, great to be with you.
[ENDS]