JOBS — TEMPORARY MIGRANT VISAS
1519. Hon CHARLES SMITH to the Leader of the House
representing the Premier:
I refer to the article in The
Australian entitled ''Temporary migrant visas issued for 2.2 million'',
in which Labor employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said the ''increased
overreliance'' on temporary visas to supply labour was of great concern
when nearly two million Australians are unemployed or underemployed. I also
refer to the McGowan Labor government's recent declaration of Perth as
a regional city and the increase in the number of qualifying occupations to
around 700 for regional visas applied for through the SkillSelect online system
and in the graduate student occupations for state visa nominations.
Does
the Premier now concede and agree with his federal counterparts that all forms
of temporary visas represent a massive
labour supply shot, which has lowered the bargaining power of local workers and
placed downward pressure on wages, considering that 82 000 Western Australians
were unemployed and looking for work as at October 2019?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I do thank the member for some
notice of the question, but it is not in my file and, if it was lodged today, I
did not see it when all questions came in earlier this morning. I am not sure
whether there is an answer. If there is one out there, I will give it to the
member at the end of question time.
Hon Charles Smith
interjected.
Hon SUE ELLERY: Okay. I have
five questions from the member in my file, but I do not have that one. I will
check for him.