Australian Greens
The Australian Greens thank everyone who made a public submission and/or public representation to this inquiry.
In the Committee’s interim report, it was recommended that:
The Committee recommends that for the next 12 months, the Government enable workers to stay on JobSeeker payments while undertaking low paid agricultural and horticultural work (Recommendation 2)
The Australian Greens recognise that eligibility rules and mutual obligation requirements for JobSeeker can create disincentives for unemployed people to do seasonal casual work away from their homes. Unemployed people temporarily relocating to regional areas for seasonal work would most likely still need to maintain their primary residences and associated living costs (rents, mortgages, utilities, etc.) while also paying for accommodation in a regional area.
An incentive to support unemployed people to do seasonal work away from their support networks and homes is worth considering. But such a program must not be the first step to a work-for-the-dole program that exploits vulnerable people through a form of indentured labour that risks them becoming further marginalised.
Prior to announcement of the 2020-21 Budget, Mr Littleproud said the Government’s objective was:
to encourage Australians to "have a crack" at work in the regions … [with] the use of incentives rather than penalties for those on the JobSeeker unemployment benefit.
This is a commitment the Government must meet and be held to, and Recommendation 2 of the Chair’s report must reflect and be considered within the principle of this commitment.
Recommendation
That the Government explicitly rules out the inclusion of obligations or penalties in any programs it develops to enable workers to stay on JobSeeker payments while undertaking low paid agricultural and horticultural work.
Also in the Committee’s interim report was a recommendation that the “SHEV [Safe Haven Enterprise visa] pathway be modified to provide a pathway to a more permanent visa”, which it would consider later, once all relevant evidence had been received. The recommendation was that:
…the SHEV pathway be modified to reduce the amount of time that refugees need to work or study down to one year (12 months cumulative).
This recommendation was publicly supported by Liberal, National, and Labor members of parliament, with the Labor and National members arguing one year was too short, and instead proposing two years.
A SHEV is a five-year temporary visa for people claiming asylum in Australia who arrived by boat without a valid visa. When a person applies for a SHEV they must make a declaration that they intend to work and/or study in regional Australia while accessing minimal social security benefits. Some SHEV holders might later find themselves eligible for skilled, family, or permanent visa classes, but most find themselves reapplying for subsequent SHEVs or Temporary Protection Visas (TPV), with no pathway to permanent residency.
Genuine refugees in Australia should be afforded permanent protection.
If people are owed protection, it should not be conditional on doing hard labour. Telling vulnerable people who are seeking asylum in Australia that their protection is dependent on their capacity to work certain jobs in certain regions is not only deeply cynical, but contrary to international human rights law.
The recommendation finally presented in the Chair’s report however does not propose a pathway, expedited or otherwise, to permanent residency for SHEV holders.
Instead, the Chair’s report recommends:
that the Government consider additional concessions to SHEV and TPV holders who undertake at least one year of agricultural or horticultural work in a regional area, and are prepared to settle in a regional areas, such as:
Subsidised VET training courses for skilled occupations experiencing chronic skills shortages (of at least 10 years); and
Other incentives that assist SHEV and TPV holders to meet requirements under a range of available visas, including the skilled migration scheme.Subsidised VET training courses for skilled occupations experiencing chronic skills shortages should be extended to all SHEV holders – along with a pathway to permanent residency – to provide them with the best opportunities to settle in and contribute to the Australian way of life.
Subsidised VET training courses for skilled occupations experiencing chronic skills shortages should be extended to all SHEV and TPV holders to provide them with the best opportunities to settle in and contribute to the Australian way of life.
Furthermore, all SHEV and TPV holders should be provided with a clear pathway to permanent residency. This pathway should be based on whether they are owed protection, not on what skills they possess or acquire. As such, a pathway through the skilled migration scheme is inappropriate for SHEV and TPV holders.
Recommendation
That the Government extend subsidised VET training courses for skilled occupations experiencing chronic skills shortages to all SHEV and TPV holders, regardless of what work they do or the region they do it in.
Recommendation
That the Government provide a pathway to permanent residency for all SHEV and TPV holders based on protection obligations, not skills criteria.
If the Government is serious about addressing the significant labour shortages currently being experienced by the agriculture sector, it will seek to implement measures that ensured all workers, regardless of their employment history, visa, residency, or citizenship, were adequately paid and supported to do this work.