Mr PITT (Hinkler) (14:54): There are currently 1,725 apprentices in my electorate of Hinkler. As a former TAFE student, apprentice and tradesperson, and on this National TAFE Day, I ask the Minister for Industry how the government’s trade support loans and plans for skills and training will provide opportunities for future students?

Mr IAN MACFARLANE (Groom—Minister for Industry) (14:54): I thank the Member for Hinkler or his question. It is great to see someone who has not only graduated from TAFE in his electorate but also gone out and had a real job, unlike many on the other side who have basically just been trade union officials. The Member for Hinkler has actually done a trade, gone out there and got his hands dirty and he is now doing an absolutely fine job representing the people of Hinkler. The member said in his maiden speech:

… without the opportunity to learn, you lose your ability to succeed.

Mr Husic interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Chifley will desist.

Mr IAN MACFARLANE: That is a fine line from someone who knows how important it is to learn, to get your trade and to get out there and not only secure an income but also be part of the earning economy. We on this side of the House want to make sure that we are putting out from training institutions people that are job ready, able to contribute and have the training and the skills that industry needs. As of 1 July, we will be starting our trade support loans which will assist apprentices through the time they are in training.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Kingston will desist.

Mr IAN MACFARLANE: This scheme is worth $1.9 billion over the forward estimates and will assist apprentices. Fourth year apprentices will be able to get up to $20,000. As we know, these loans are interest free. They will be indexed on 1 June each year and are interest free. These loans will see a 20 per cent discount to apprentices and certain skilled trainees once they graduate. That is what this scheme is all about. It is about assisting people on the way through their training so that they can meet their daily and weekly needs and giving them a bonus and an incentive when they have finished. We want to see these trainees and apprentices not only be supported but also have access to the best training institutions available. So we support the TAFE system. We support all the RTOs, as long as they provide a competitive and quality skills training system. We want to make sure that anyone, but young people particularly, embarking on a trade, like the Member for Hinkler did, has the opportunity to get the best possible qualifications. This government will support them every inch of the way with a trade support loan. We will be able to put more into this area once we get over the $1 billion a month we have to pay in interest because of the debt the previous government left us.

Last week the Assistant Minister for Education, Susan Ley, visited my electorate. The visit was very well received. We attended the Acorn Child Care Centre, which is owned by a local diabetic specialist, Dr Martin Strahan. Dr Strahan has a very strong interest in the diets of children, in particular the effect of nuts and nut oil products and how that may affect children in later life. This is one of the very few childcare centres in the region which has a completely vegetarian diet which includes nuts and nut oil. I congratulate Dr Strahan on taking that strong stance. It certainly seems to be effective and is working incredibly well. The centre also has a local music program. I would like to thank Gina and Janet for the great warm reception they gave me and the assistant minister when we toured the centre.

While in Bundaberg, Assistant Minister Ley ran a round table for local childcare providers. The message from those childcare providers was constant and it was quite simple. They are absolutely drowning in red and green tape. They are absolutely drowning in changes to regulation over the last six years. The thing they are absolutely crying out for—and crying out for constantly—is stability.

Stability is something this government will provide. Assistant Minister Ley was across her brief—she could answer every question that was asked. Certainly they were very happy with the outcome. It is exceptionally important that, as a government, we do what we said we would do and that we get out of the way and let these people get on with what it is they are best at doing. (Time expired)

On Saturday night I was very fortunate to attend Pearl of the Orient, an occasion which celebrated 30 years of the Bundaberg and District Australian-Filipino Association and, of course, the 116th anniversary of Philippine Independence Day. And what an event it was, attended by the local mayor, Mal Forman, and his wife, Joy, my colleague Stephen Bennett, the state member for Burnett, and Councillors Honor, Forgan and Hamilton from the Bundaberg Regional Council.

The event was a huge success, with a record almost 400 guests attending. I congratulate the association’s president, Mila Schneider, and the rest of the organisers. It is not often that you see a queue of 200 people waiting for a meal, but it was certainly a wonderful occasion. This included traditional Filipino foods such as the lechon, which is a pig on a spit, prepared by International-Wide Bay TAFE students. There was a flower parade, which acknowledged all past and present members, who had raised enormous amounts of money for the association. Having never attended a Filipino association event before, it certainly was an eye-opener to see such a long list of attendees and people who have raised such an enormous amount of money.

There was a stage performance about the life of the Filipino national hero Jose Rizal—a gentleman whose life, unfortunately, was ended because he was executed—and the work that he did for Filipino independence. This was conducted by local primary and high school students. There was also an artwork as a stage backdrop, which was done by 20 or 30 individual students in separate panels and then put together as a collage. It was a wonderful event.

It is great to see the Filipino community enjoying themselves, after a tough year following tropical Cyclone Haiyan. Certainly, the discussions I had with my colleagues and the counsellors at the event felt like an enormously large family Christmas lunch. More than 171,000 Australians were born in the Philippines. In my electorate of Hinkler there are approximately 700. People came from Hervey Bay and Childers to the event. At a number of events people wore traditional dress. It certainly was a spectacular event, which I enjoyed enormously. I look forward to attending next year’s anniversary of Philippine Independence Day.

I congratulate president Mila Schneider on a job well done. It certainly was a wonderful event. It is good to see that they are part of a local community. The community is much stronger for their presence.

I would like to bring to the chamber’s attention the great work of the Hervey Bay Independent newspaper and its fundraising arm, the Indy Foundation. I attended the Indy Foundation lunch last Friday. This is an organisation that has raised over $200,000 for local charities. I would like to congratulate one of the local owners, Malcolm Quinn, for such wonderful work.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: In accordance with standing 193, the time for members’ constituency statements has concluded.

Child care costs increased $3,500 a year under Labor, Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt revealed today.

Mr Pitt was today joined by Federal Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley, who he invited to Hinkler to hear local concerns over the rising cost of child care.

Ms Ley took the opportunity to outline the Coalition’s $200 million Long Day Care Professional Development Programme, which will help local child care centres with the cost of up-skilling their staff.

“Access to quality childcare is essential to creating better economic and employment opportunities for Hinkler residents,” Mr Pitt said.

“The Coalition has kept its promise to task the Productivity Commission with examining ways to make child care more affordable, flexible and accessible.”

Ms Ley said Australians had embraced the opportunity to raise their concerns, making more than 1100 submissions during the Productivity Commission Inquiry’s recent submission period.

“Families Australia-wide are struggling to access affordable and flexible child care due to fees skyrocketing 53 per cent nationally during Labor’s six years in government and Hinkler clearly isn’t immune. That equates to an additional $75 a week or $3,500 a year,” Ms Ley said.

“Child care affordability has become a national problem no thanks to Labor and I’m determined to address these unsustainable increases in child care fees to ease the pressure on family budgets.”

Ms Ley said she was also working with her state and territory counterparts to reduce Labor’s red tape burden on child care centres in a bid to reduce pressure on fees.

The latest Department of Education figures (Sept 2013 quarter) show the average hourly rate for long day care was $7.65. This figure compares with an average hourly fee of $5.00 in the corresponding Sept Qtr in 2007, when Labor took office.

While in Bundaberg, Ms Ley met parents and staff at a local child care centre and attended a round table meeting with centre operators from across the Hinkler electorate.

[ENDS]

Mr Pitt’s media contact: Larine Statham 0427 653 814

Ms Ley’s media contact: Troy Bilsborough 0427 063 150

Madam Speaker, I rise to speak about a situation that’s all too common in the horticulture sector.

The supermarket giant demands to pay a lower price, but the farmer’s input costs continue to rise. Reliant on a large seasonal workforce, the farmer turns to a contract labour hire company to hopefully save himself a few dollars.

He suspects the contractor may be breaching immigration, taxation or industrial relations laws, but turns a blind eye for the sake of his family’s livelihood.    

The farmer’s use of a contractor in no way diminishes his responsibility to those workers. Under Australian law he is equally liable and, in most cases, he’s easier for the authorities to pursue.       

Not only has he put his business at risk, but his actions also disadvantage those Australian farmers and contractors who do the right thing.

I’d like to make it clear, Madam Speaker: the majority of farmers and contractors act lawfully. They do a remarkable job producing some of the best produce in the world, often in very challenging conditions.

My speech here today is not about vilifying farmers, labour hire companies or foreign workers. Labour hire contractors and seasonal workers are vital to the horticulture sector.

I am speaking today about the rouge operators and the impact they are having on regional Australia. Make no mistake, sham contracting affects more than just the horticulture sector!

Tourism operators have complained for years that the poor treatment of backpackers damages Australia’s reputation abroad.

Contractors are today employing fewer European backpackers and Australian workers because most know their rights. Instead they are recruiting Asian students. This discrimination has distorted regional labour markets, where unemployment is already high, and fostered a deeply disturbing, yet widely accepted, culture of serious exploitation.

Apathy is rife. Some people even try to justify preying on vulnerable workers from developing countries, by saying: “they’re getting paid more than they would back home” and “the workers are complicit too”. The workers’ unwillingness to speak out only protects the sham contractor and makes it more difficult for authorities to protect others.   

Having so many unlawful non-citizens in Australia raises serious national security issues. Media reports suggest one sham contractor from Papua New Guinea had ties to a Gold Coast Bikie gang.

A Malaysian man, who’d been working illegally on a farm for three months, was deported in December for violating his tourist visa. ABC reports that he was later arrested by Malaysia’s counter-terrorism special branch on suspicion of running a transit cell for the Islamic State terrorist group.

The complicated cross-jurisdiction structure of the offending and the evidential burden make it very difficult for authorities to act.

The Honourable Philip Ruddock announced a review into illegal work in 1999, resulting in a range of measures to improve compliance. A 2010 report by Stephen Howells found it was “the most significant problem facing Australian migration authorities”.

Regional media reports and anecdotal evidence presented to my office suggests the problem has worsened. That’s why Nationals Senator Barry O’Sullivan and I brought stakeholders together in Brisbane early last year.

One suggestion to prevent sexual exploitation was for working holiday makers to attach payslips to their second year visa applications as proof they’ve completed the 88 days of specified work.

They said passport photo ID should be added to Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO), to make it harder for illegal workers to share the same visa number, and there should be closer monitoring of the people registering to become migration agents or ABN holders.  

While I would welcome the introduction of measures such as these, they would only address very specific aspects of what is a much larger problem.

Stakeholders said creating more hoops for farmers to jump through would only make the problem worse, and called for greater enforcement of existing laws.

I’m pleased my Ministerial colleagues are listening. Under the Coalition, in 2013-14 the number of Illegal Worker Warning Notices issued increased 201 per cent compared to the previous year, and the number of illegal workers located increased 18 per cent. So far this financial year, six employers have been fined a combined total of more than $32,000 for employing illegal workers.

Last week, an employer sanction infringement notice of $15,300 was issued to a labour hire contractor involved in the employment of 37 illegal workers on a farm near Hillston in southern New South Wales.

Last month, eight illegal non-citizens were detained in my home town of Bundaberg:  three Koreans, three Thai, a Malaysian national and an Indian.

The National Party has supported my call for a multi-jurisdictional taskforce.  I’d like to see some of the funds we’ve saved with the closure of immigration detention facilities, spent on an undercover operation to shine the light on this “seedy underbelly” once and for all. 

Putting an end to this scourge is everyone’s responsibility; starting with the people that set the farm gate price! 

The questionable conduct of our major supermarkets has a significant impact on how Australian farmers operate their businesses. Farmers’ share of the selling price has declined from almost 90 per cent in 1900 to less than 10 per cent today!

This fact alone, taken from the Agriculture Competitiveness Green Paper, paints a very clear picture. It’s a picture that is nothing short of heartbreaking! Australian consumers should be disgusted!  

This is a matter of importance to people in my electorate, because regional students have been disadvantaged for a long time. Before I get to that, I must point out the great injustice done by the member for Gellibrand. Hot Chocolate fans all over the world are right now picking up the phone, getting on their computers, sending emails because it is not ‘Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie’. The great line is: ‘Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth.’ Yes, that is the truth, which is exactly the opposite to what the member for Gellibrand said. As much as I would like to sing in this place, I am sure it would be inappropriate.

This is a serious matter. The people in my electorate are a lot like me. I was born in Bundaberg and had similar opportunities to them. I finished high school in 1986; I graduated with a score which was good enough to get me into university. I had an offer for university, but for me to attend university at that time meant moving to a capital city, and that was an expensive move. Students from regional areas have to travel, pay accommodation, feed themselves. They move away from home; they do not have mum there any more to help them out. They have difficult social challenges. If I had taken that opportunity at that time, the financial disadvantage for my family and my younger brothers would have been far too high, and it was not a price I was willing to pay. So I took a job as an apprentice electrician, and it was a wonderful time. Those four years were absolutely fantastic; I worked with some great people in an industrial workplace—a highly unionised workplace—and they were good, honest, hard-working people. They did their best every single day. I loved being an electrician—getting out and doing that work was absolutely great.

However, one of those chardonnay drinking engineers who came from somewhere else suggested that I was not smart enough to attend university. So “that” was the reason I did not go—I was not smart enough?! I accepted the challenge in 1992 and went to the Queensland University of Technology as an adult student. I used the money I had saved for four years to attend university. If I had gone in 1987, how much HECS would I have paid? Absolutely none! But in 1992 I had to pay HECS.

An honourable member: How much?

Quite a lot, but I tell you now, Mr Deputy Speaker, if I had the chance to talk to my skinnier, younger and less grey self, the advice that I would give is very straightforward: take the loan. At that time 10 per cent was the return on money deposited in banks. I should have put my money somewhere else and taken the cheap loan that was provided by taxpayers; the benefits would have been much greater. Instead, I used my own savings. I paid all those fees and got them out of the way.

Going to university is an opportunity that is not afforded to many regional students, because they simply cannot afford to go. Our policy provides scholarship opportunities for regional students—students from low socio-economic backgrounds, students who would otherwise never get the opportunity to go to university. There are now some universities in my electorate—the University of Southern Queensland’s Fraser Coast campus. For first semester 2014 there are 743 students in Hervey Bay. What is the gender split? Seventy-eight per cent are female; 22 per cent male. It is fantastic. There are 29 Indigenous students on campus and 23 external; there are only 11 international students. Of those 743, 367 are mature age and only 187 are school leavers. For a very long time the absolute best export from my electorate was our young talent: they travel to the city, do university and do not come back.

These policies will give opportunities to people in regional areas, make our universities stronger and our regional universities more viable. And that will mean more students. I look forward to the day when our local universities triple in size—not 700, but 2000 in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay—providing opportunities for our local kids so they can stay at home, attend university—opportunities that city kids have had for many years. I am not talking about opportunities provided by the taxpayer, but things they can do for themselves. In regional areas that is what regional kids are about: they do not want a handout, they just want opportunity and they will seize that opportunity with both hands. With that opportunity they will make this a better country and they will certainly be great for my electorate.

The Australian Government is delivering on its plan to build safer roads and a stronger economy through its record $500 million investment in the national Black Spot Programme.

Member for Hinkler, Keith Pitt, today announced funding of $366,348 to fix three black spots in the Hinkler electorate.

“I look forward to working together with all levels of government and the community to continually improve our local road network,” Mr Pitt said.

The approved projects are:

•           PIALBA (Old Maryborough Road Nissen Street), $167,489 to install channelised right turns, medians and pavement widening

•           PIALBA (Nissen Street Islander Road), $68,859 to install new intersection threshold treatments, line marking and signage

•           BUNDABERG (Barolin Street Crofton Street), $130,000 to restrict access from Crofton Street to left in/left out, improve pedestrian safety by installing raised kerb extensions and refuge areas and upgrade signage and line marking

The projects were recommended by a panel of independent road safety experts and will be delivered during the course of the coming financial year (2014-15).

Mr Pitt said this investment in Black Spot projects will deliver safer roads for Hinkler through targeted upgrades proven to deliver results.

“Black Spot projects target dangerous roads to save lives and reduce road trauma, ensuring our local roads are safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

“Anyone can suggest an intersection or stretch of road they believe should be considered for a safety upgrade, and I strongly encourage all councils and individuals to submit further nominations,” Mr Pitt said.

Further information and nomination forms can be downloaded from: http://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/funding/blackspots/index.aspx

A recent evaluation of the programme found that fatal and casualty crashes are reduced at treated sites by 30%, equalling one life per year for every 84 projects.  This programme delivers genuine results by saving lives and returning around $7.70 for every $1 invested by reducing the number and cost of road crashes.

Media Contact:  Debbie Leis 0419 535 722

I recently attended a Queensland Cancer Council fundraising event at RSL Fairways, on the north side of Bundaberg, with my wife, Alison. This event was organised by local resident Margaret Crabb, ably supported by Peter Carey from the Queensland Cancer Council. One of the great parts of this event was a mad hatters tea party. I am not sure whether you had to be mad to wear a hat or just a mad hat, but eventually my wife and I judged the mad hatters event. The winner was Berice Moody, and the reason for Berice getting up was basically that she had built her hat out of teabags which were completely recyclable—after the event she used them for afternoon tea. We thought that was a fantastic opportunity to recycle those things.

In my electorate of Hinkler what is desperately needed is more aged-care beds. My biggest demographic groups are the over-85s, with 3,141 residents, and the over-65s, with 30,414 residents. That is an enormous amount. I have had a number of meetings with aged-care providers recently which have been very encouraging, but we need to ensure that we build more of these facilities locally and we need to build in the very near future. They tell me they have opportunities after we get the bubble through from the baby boomers to use those facilities as a cheap way of providing residential accommodation. I would encourage people to get into those things and build them as quickly as possible because we need them now.

There is a seedy underbelly in the contract labour hire industry in this country. It is unfairly damaging the reputation of our agriculture industry and our tourism centres. Let me say from the outset that the majority of businesses do the right thing. They uphold the law and Australia’s sense of a fair go. My speech here, in this place today, is not directed at those people.

In my electorate of Hinkler, it is a widely known fact that labour contractors, who act as middle men in the horticulture sector, are exploiting workers and local growers. To a small extent, the problem has always existed. But it has escalated in recent years. Many growers prefer to use contract labour hire, rather than recruit seasonal workers themselves. It reduces the regulatory burden on their business. Contractors charge growers a margin of about five to 10 per cent on top of wages and superannuation. The contractors pay the workers the bare minimum or cash, and then keep the superannuation for themselves. It can take months for the contractors to pay their workers. By then, many of the workers have moved on. They could not be bothered to fight it or do not know their rights, so the contractor never has to pay them.

The contractors employ people already in Australia on 417 working holiday visas and student visas. Some even bring foreign workers into Australia illegally, and threaten to report them to authorities if they do not comply with their every demand. Contractors are demanding large sums of cash in exchange for signing off on the 88 days of specified work that 417 visa holders are required to do to get a second year in Australia. The contractors also charge the workers for accommodation and transport. They are staying in overcrowded private residential properties that do not meet fire and safety standards.

The Bundaberg region has endured two major floods in three years, and is now in the midst of one the worst droughts on record. In tough seasons, growers struggle to pay their bills on time. Some contractors are on selling the debts to other contractors. This can result in contractors ‘owning’ growers, and influencing their business operations.

In November 2012, the Bundaberg News Mail reported that two Turkish labour contractors appeared in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court accused of kidnapping a Sharon farmer over an unpaid loan of $119,000. The trial had been set down for earlier this month. But the case was dismissed when the complainant failed to show up. Unfortunately the nightmare for growers does not end at being intimidated and fearing for their personal safety. Under current legislation, growers can be prosecuted for crimes committed by contractors. Labour contractors are masters at ‘phoenixing’, where a business collapses, only to rise from the ashes under a new name, without debt and trouble-free. In many cases, investigators cannot locate the contractor so they go after the grower. I agree that growers who have been complicit should be fined, and in some cases jailed. But it should certainly not be the case for growers who have engaged contractors in good faith.

This problem is not confined to my electorate. In Warwick late last year, newspaper reports indicated 60 backpackers were owed close to $200,000 by a Korean labour contractor. In April this year there were reports 417 visa holders in Gippsland were being forced to work 30 hours for free before the contractor would sign off on their 88 days of specified work. The problem we have in Australia is that the issue crosses so many jurisdictions—local, state and federal government; immigration, taxation, Fair Work, agriculture, police, fire, health and safety, and tourism. I recently met with a senior investigator from Fair Work. Since October 2013, the Fair Work Ombudsman has been making surprise visits to farms throughout Australia to check seasonal workers are being paid their full entitlements. In the two years before the program had even started, the Fair Work Ombudsman investigated about 230 complaints in the fruit-picking sector nationally, recovering $80,000 for 107 workers.

I must congratulate the Bundaberg Regional Council and the other local authorities for the work they are doing to crack down on illegal hostels and overcrowding. State member for Burnett, Stephen Bennett, has been particularly vocal about the issue. In February I hosted The Nationals Party Room in Bundaberg, where members and senators heard about these labour issues from Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers executive officer, Peter Hockings. Peter’s advocacy on this issue is to be commended.

Together with Queensland Senator Barry O’Sullivan, I will next month host a small summit, bringing together representatives from the horticulture industry and the relevant state and federal ministers’ offices. Senator O’Sullivan is a strong advocate for regional Australia and I look forward to working closely with him to get some action on this issue. The exploitation of workers and growers by contractors is detrimental to the economy. Not only does it disadvantage growers and contractors who do the right thing, but it reduces employment opportunities for those with permission to work in Australia. This flows through to our tourism sector due to lower occupancy rates in hostels and fewer backpackers visiting the Wide Bay Burnett region.

My region needs strong tourism and horticulture sectors now, more than ever.