Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of hypocrisy on a breathtaking scale, as the issue of foreign workers taking Australian jobs threatens to become a political battleground all the way to the election.
In a marked hardening of his rhetoric over the 457 skilled migration visa system, Mr Shorten has moved to align the ALP more closely with the populist anti-globalisation, economic nationalism tendencies of the Donald Trump-led Republicans in the US.
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PM's strong words for Shorten
Bill Shorten has revealed his plan to put Australian workers first but Malcolm Turnbull says it's hypocritical and opportunistic. Courtesy ABC News 24.
That brought a swift rebuke from both government and business, even though one LNP backbencher chimed in to agree with Mr Shorten.
"This leader of the opposition is a rank opportunist," said Mr Turnbull. "He is completely hypocritical on this issue."
Mr Shorten said his proposed toughening of requirements for employers would ensure that more vacant positions would be filled by Australians.
"Now is not the time to have slack visa requirements which allow boilermakers, electricians, carpenters, other trades, mechanics and not just those, nurses, cooks, you name it," Mr Shorten said. "What we need to do here is prioritise Australian jobs first.
"Now is the time to prioritise Australian jobs, and we are going to do it by toughening the rules around visas and saying to those employers who have a need to employ overseas labour that they should have a training program to give locals a go."
While the government claims Mr Shorten has chosen the path of populism over policy, sources close to Mr Shorten insist the opposition had always intended to raise its concerns over foreign workers this week.
The government accuses the opposition of ramping up its anti-foreign worker rhetoric in a direct response to the Trump victory, which capitalised on working class resentment in the "rust-belt" states of Michigan and Ohio.
As the argument intensified, a clearly annoyed Mr Turnbull attacked Mr Shorten, declaring the Labor leader had presided over the biggest boom of 457 applications when he was employment minister in Julia Gillard's government.
"Mr Shorten's hypocrisy on the subject of foreign workers is breathtaking," he said.
"The highest number of 457 visas were granted when he was the employment minister. It is around a third more 457 visas were granted when he was employment minister than have been granted over the last 12 months. So he was ... in the Olympic grade of granting 457 visas.
"In terms of the construction sector, he granted twice as many 457 visas when he was minister as are being granted at the moment. So, again, he was particularly good at bringing foreign workers into the construction sector."
But Labor countered those claims, noting an absence of onerous labour market-testing requirements on employers under John Howard's government.
Mr Shorten's office said the reason there were now fewer 457 visas being granted was because of restrictions placed on their availability since.
Labor also argues legitimate skilled labour shortages during the mining boom meant there was naturally a higher demand for foreign skilled workers than can be justified now.
The government's defence of the current system was undermined by one of its own.
Queensland-based backbencher George Christensen agreed with Labor that the system was overused by employers, writing on Facebook that "there is no need for the issuance of any further 457 foreign worker visas in our region".
Mr Christensen's northern Queensland seat of Dawson stretches from Mackay north to Townsville, where unemployment and underemployment are rife.
"I will be writing to the Minister for Immigration, the Minister for Employment, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister today requesting that no further 457 visas be issued for jobs in the Central and North Queensland regions. After all, Australian jobs should be for Australian workers," he said in the statement on Facebook.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's chief executive, James Pearson, said Labor's position was "full of contradictions".
"By targeting the 457 temporary skilled visa, Labor is dancing to the tune of the union movement rather than being guided by the evidence," he said.
"The occupations that Labor concentrates on – bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians – are a small and decreasing part of the temporary skilled migration program, while Labor seems to have ignored areas that did experience a small increase in visas, such as arts and professional occupations."
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