IT is most telling that Julia Gillard’s mendacious campaign against 457 visa holders has received its greatest public support from isolationist anti-migration figure Pauline Hanson and an undistinguished trade union leader.
From their remarks it seems that each wants to use anti-foreigner sentiment as a blunt attention-seeking political tool.
Hanson still craves the media spotlight. CFMEU leader Michael O’Connor craves greater trade union membership.
Gillard just craves votes and her grossly offensive attack on skilled foreign workers is trying to whip up an anti-foreigner frenzy not seen in Australian politics since the Labor Party gave the nation the White Australia policy.
The silence from the spineless western Sydney Labor ministers who are supposed to benefit from Gillard’s bizarre safari to Rooty Hill has been deafening. Surely, the three - Chris Bowen, Jason Clare and David Bradbury - have some idea of what the real situation is in their electorates. Or don’t they have any interaction with their constituents?
It would certainly appear they don’t have cause to visit any of the hospitals in their region because they are reliant on 457 visa holders to keep operating. More than 1300 people on 457 visas are employed by the state government in the health sector alone, including some 370 doctors and 870 nurses.
In the Greater Western Sydney health district, there are nearly 740 employees on 457 visas and they are highly visible as any visitor to a public hospital would testify.
Yet, Gillard went out of her way to demonise the very people who are maintaining the health of western Sydney residents.
Not only is she engaging in the lowest form of politics, she is effectively contradicting the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Brendan O’Connor (Michael’s brother) whose department only last month praised the 457 visa program.
The department noted demand for 457 employees had eased in the six months to December with the economic downturn.
“Temporary work visa applications have been heading downwards since June 2012 and have now declined for the last three consecutive months,” a DIAC spokesman said.
“Reinforcing this trend has been a drop in actual 457 visa grants since August. This movement demonstrates the 457 visa program’s responsiveness to the changing needs of the Australian economy.”
The spokesman added: “Remuneration levels also demonstrate how successful the program is in targeting highly skilled workers. Average total remuneration of those 457 visa holders granted visas this program year to November was $89,800. Managers and professionals, who together accounted for 66 per cent of the total number of visas approved this program year, had combined average total remuneration of $109,000.”
So, DIAC highlighted the success of the skilled temporary migrant program, its flexibility and the fact that 457 visa holders are not, in the main, low-paid workers being exploited by unscrupulous employers as the Prime Minister and her allies in the trade union movement would have us believe.
According to statistics released last month, there was a slight increase of 457 visas in NSW from 11,480 in 2011 to 12,260 in 2012 .
Of these, 2060 were employed in communications and telecommunications (16.8 per cent of total number of 457 visa holders), but a drop of 18.5 per cent employed in that sector.
The number of 457 visa holders employed in the health care and social assistance sector in 2012 was 1480 (12.1 per cent of total), an increase of 15.6 per cent.
From his remarks, it is more than obvious that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott understands the Australian electorate far better than the hermetically-isolated Prime Minister.
In tying the Labor government’s deliberate destruction of the Howard government’s successful border protection policy to its attack on 457 visa holders, Abbott echoed the thoughts of many when he said it appeared the Labor Party welcomed illegal boat arrivals who were able to access benefit programs immediately, but was opposed to the arrival of those who provided skilled labour to fill jobs when Australians were not available.
Labor puts out the welcome mat for those who will join the welfare community and become a drain on the public purse.
It incites antagonism towards those who will not go on welfare, those who will work, who will pay taxes and who will help build the Australian economy.
That there is a genuine need for skilled foreign workers is beyond doubt, though not according to the Prime Minister.
The latest estimates indicate that Western Australia alone will fall 180,000 workers short by 2020 on current migration and employment levels.
The main industries where there are likely to be shortages are services, construction, health and social services and mining.
For the year to June 2012, there were about 11,000 interstate migrants entering WA on a net basis. This has jumped significantly over the last two years and is about four times the historic average.
Over the same period there were around 47,000 total overseas arrivals.
Despite record interstate arrivals, overseas migration is four times more than interstate - and the nation would be the poorer if Labor succeeds in reducing the skilled migration flow as it seems hell-bent on doing.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/piersakerman/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/these_visas_are_keeping_us_right_off_the_sick_list/
