|
| |
SUBJECT: NT proposes E Timorese guest worker scheme
also Nelson denies split over guest workers,
Timor
guest workers
'would benefit all', Smith expects E Timor to push
for guest worker plan
NT proposes E Timorese guest worker scheme
Posted 8 hours 25 minutes ago
The Northern Territory
Government has proposed its own guest worker scheme to allow East
Timorese to pick fruit in the Top End, modelled on the Rudd Government's
Pacific Islander scheme.
The Territory Business and Employment Minister,
Kon Vatskalis, says
the system would only apply where Australian workers were unavailable
and would not undercut local wages and conditions.
Mr Vatskalis has written to the federal Immigration Minister seeking a
memorandum of
understanding on the issue.
He says similar requests to the previous Howard government were ignored.
"Every time we tried to speak to ministers in Canberra about allowing
people from Timor to come, we had a blunt answer. No. They didn't want
to do it, simple as that," he said.
"We've got a different Government now, different ideas and a sympathetic
ear.
"And certainly, I stand by the horticulture industry, I've done it
before, I'll do it again and I'll keep banging doors and ringing people
to make sure that happens."
--
Nelson denies split over guest workers
AAP
August 21, 2008 - 7:47PM
A growing list of National MPs is at odds with
Brendan Nelson over
a Pacific guest worker scheme but the opposition leader denies a split
in coalition ranks.
Victorian MP John Forrest
and Queenslanders Barnaby
Joyce and Ron
Boswell have joined their NSW colleague, Kay Hull, who has been a
vocal advocate of the
federal government policy.
Dr Nelson has questioned why overseas workers are needed while
Australia had
500,000 unemployed.
Under the three-year trial, 2,500 workers from Tonga, Vanuatu,
Kiribati and
Papua New Guinea
will be given temporary
work visas to perform seasonal agricultural work, such as fruit
picking.
Griffith in NSW and Swan Hill in Victoria have been suggested as regions
where they may operate.
Despite a chorus of opposition to his position, Dr Nelson played down
the difference of opinion.
"There's nothing surprising about that at all," he told reporters.
"But our responsibility as leaders of the nation is to seriously examine
what are the national consequences to our nation of this radical change
in immigration policy."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
seized on the differing views in the coalition.
"Kay Hull, therefore I presume the National Party, the
National Farmers'
Federation, appear to be supporting the government's position yet
we have Mr Nelson ... rowing in exactly the reverse direction," he said.
"I think it is time the Liberal and National Party, the opposition,
sorted out whether they have got any policy on this at all."
Dr Nelson's concerns centre on monitoring of the program, as well as
whether Pacific workers could be taking jobs from unemployed
Australians.
"Australians need to be reassured about health and security checks,
about getting the people back once they come," he said.
"If Australia is prepared to bring dirt poor people from
Pacific Island nations
to do work Australians are unable or unwilling to do, then surely we are
capable of working out some financial assistance to get Australians who
are unemployed to help them do the work."
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Evans said workers would be
subject to standard health checks, a chest X-ray, a police clearance and
character checks.
"In addition, the four countries involved in the pilot scheme will
decide who is put forward to participate in this program and have
undertaken to only propose people of good character," he said.
The government also indicated there were no plans to add
East Timor to the
scheme, despite a visit to
Canberra by
Timorese Prime Minister
Xanana Gusmao next week.
Mr Forrest, the federal member for Mallee which takes in Swan Hill, said
he'd been an advocate of a program for more than a decade.
"I'm representing my electorate, we badly want a program like this,
we've argued for it for years and subject to the detail, I'm supporting
it," he told AAP.
Mrs Hull criticised city MPs making decisions about country issues they
didn't fully understand.
"Look I honestly can't understand just where the direction is coming
from at the moment," she told ABC Radio.
"I am not sure where the advice is coming on this and I'm, you know, I
am aware that if there were concerns about health issues and criminal
checks and etc, that there are significant guidelines and criteria to be
put in place to cover all of those aspects."
Senator Joyce said there must be a way to get workers to where they were
needed.
"Now I understand fully that you need to have strong
checks and balances
... if you get those
checks and balances right then it's something that should be
strongly considered," he said.
--
ABC News Online
Timor guest workers 'would benefit all'
ABC - August 22, 2008, 10:27 am
The East Timorese Embassy in Canberra says Territory businesses will
benefit if workers from the developing country are allowed temporary
working visas to Australia.
In a bid to tackle the skills shortage in the Top End, the Territory
Government and the horticulture industry wants the Federal Government to
expand the pacific workers visa program to include East Timor .
Spokesman for the East Timorese Embassy Lisu Lasualdo says bringing
workers to Australia would have benefits for the whole nation.
"Timorese youth will be able assist the Australian and especially the
Northern Territory
economy by helping with picking fruit, therefore they will be help the
growth of local industries."
He also says skills learnt in the Northern Territory could lead to the
rise of similar industries in the developing nation.
"They could help the relatives back home, but more importantly, the
skills and knowledge they could gain here from working in another
country and learning work
ethics from working in another country would be very important
when they return home.
"Given the fact that the climate in the Northern Territory and Timor are
very similar, I think there is a possibility for the youth to start
similar industry in Timor providing they have the right support and
funding."
---
Smith expects E Timor to push for guest worker plan
Posted 2 hours 40 minutes ago
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says he expects
East Timor's Prime
Minister Xanana Gusmao will push for a guest worker agreement
when he meets Prime Minister Kevin Rudd next week.
The Australian
Government has just agreed to run a trial of guest workers from the
Pacific Islands in
regional Victoria and New
South Wales.
East Timor is keen to have some of its people complete seasonal work in
Western Australia.
Mr Smith says the matter will be discussed when Mr Gusmao visits
Canberra on Monday.
"It has been in the context of as, you would have seen publicly, of
involvement also with Western Australia and the
Western Australian
Government, so that's an issue we are expecting that both my
counterpart foreign
minister de Costa but also Prime Minister Gusmao
will raise with us," he said.
Back to August Menu
July
World Leaders Contact List
Main Postings Menu
|
|
