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representatives vote 2021-02-02#6
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2021-02-12 15:36:29
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Title
Bills — Export Control Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2020; Second Reading- Export Control Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2020 - Second Reading - Keep words unchanged
Description
<p class="speaker">Trent Zimmerman</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That this bill be now read a second time.</p>- The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2021-02-02.119.5) to keep the usual second reading motion unchanged. The usual second reading motion is "*that the bill be read a second time,*" which is parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This vote was put after the MP for Franklin [Julie Collins](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/franklin/julie_collins) (Labor) proposed an [amendment](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debate/?id=2021-02-02.114.1).
- ### Proposed amendment text
- > *That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:*
- >
- > *"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes the Coalition Government's continued failure to prioritise agriculture legislation and its inaction to address the agriculture workforce shortage."*
<p class="speaker">Julie Collins</p><p>This is the first piece of legislation that I have spoken on since having this portfolio. I want to say how excited and thrilled I am to be the shadow minister for agriculture. I'm really looking forward to this. I know that agriculture is a critical part of our national economy. In my home state, and even in my own electorate, it is a critical part of the economy. I know how important it is to local producers to be able to get their product picked by workers and to get their product to market. We know from what we've seen from this government to date that there are some things they absolutely haven't got right when it comes to that.</p><p>The Export Control Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2020 makes amendments to the Export Control Act 2020 to support the implementation of the new export control framework. The act commences at a time fixed by proclamation or on 28 March this year. But isn't it extraordinary that, almost a year into this new control framework, the government is already amending its own legislation? It says a lot about this government. They talk about things a lot and say they're doing all this stuff and, in reality, things take forever to get done and are not done properly.</p><p>This act will be supported by the Export Control Rules. In particular, this bill is proposing the following amendments. It is seeking to clarify the circumstances where a fit and proper person test is required for an application to vary a registration of an establishment or to approve an alteration of an establishment. It enables the rules to prescribe circumstances where the secretary may approve or refuse to approve a notice of intention to export prescribed goods. It provides the secretary with the power to prescribe requirements in the rules for determining whether to issue or to refuse to issue an export permit. It enables the rules to modify how certain provisions in the Export Control Act 2020 and the Administrative Tribunals Act 1975 apply to reviewable decisions for tariff rate quotas. It enables the rules to apply matters contained in any instrument of a foreign country that sets out, or provides a method for calculating, the tariff rate quota for the importation of a kind of goods into that country.</p><p>The bill will also support the implementation of the new export control framework, as I said, and Australia's agricultural industry and stakeholders. The government has stated that this bill has no financial impact on it or on the budget. It seems extraordinary to me that, if that is the case, these changes have taken so long. It seems to take this government forever, not just in this portfolio but in every portfolio, to get things done.</p><p>I also want to raise some concerns that we have on this side in relation to the government's failures in agriculture. The minister, the member for Maranoa, has promised us two things during the global pandemic—that is, an agricultural workers code and, of course, 22,000 overseas workers to come and assist in getting product off the farms. The question is: during this global pandemic, has he achieved these two commitments from the government in relation to agriculture? Of course, he has not. He's failed to deliver on both of these vital issues. After scrambling together a code, at the behest of the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, the state and territory chief health officers rejected the minister's half-baked agricultural workers code. Despite chief health officers' concerns, the Prime Minister and the minister rammed it through national cabinet and then called foul when the states and territories refused to incorporate the code into their health orders.</p><p>We know that this is how the government works. They go along to national cabinet, and we know that the states and territories are really controlling the agenda, but the Prime Minister thinks he is. The Prime Minister makes all these announcements and, of course, it's the premiers who are doing all of the work. It appears that the minister has ignored his state and territory colleagues, and, indeed, the health professionals, in relation to this. When his state and territory colleagues were calling to try and find workable solutions, the minister for agriculture did not engage. If this is leadership on behalf of our farmers, I think we all know how that's going to end. Farmers are clearly doing everything on their own with their state and territory leaders.</p><p>Then, in October last year, we had the minister proudly claiming that he had 22,000 vetted, work-ready workers ready to come to Australia to help get our produce off our farms. We've heard in the last week that $42 million in crop losses to date are due to labour shortages. Farmers are obviously asking themselves, 'Where are these workers that the minister promised?' With produce being left to rot on farms across the country because of labour shortages, how is this government doing its job? Where is the minister? The minister promised that these workers were ready to go, and clearly they were not.</p><p>For far too long, what we've seen from the government and the minister is obfuscation, with their trying to blame the states and territories. We know that some of the states and territories have indeed brought workers to Australia, and some of them are trying still. We had the member for Nicholls in a 90-second statement before question time today trying to blame the Victorian Premier for the fact that produce is rotting on farms in Victoria, when it's clearly the federal government's responsibility. They are responsible for seasonal worker programs and they are responsible for quarantine systems, and they have been for more than a hundred years. How can it possibly be the Premier's fault that these workers are not available to assist in getting produce off the farms? It clearly is the Commonwealth's responsibility, and the minister needs to take responsibility for his failures. If he really has these workers ready to go, if they're really there, why is the government not doing something about having a national scheme for quarantining them so they can get produce off the farms? We all know why—because it's too hard. The government don't really want to do it.</p><p>The minister needs to come clean and say why he is shirking his responsibilities when it comes to ensuring that there are enough workers to get the produce off our farms. Indeed, we would not have accepted a subpar workers code that the health officers rejected, and the minister would be working to get a national approach to get the produce off our farms if he were serious. In fact, my colleague, the former shadow minister for agriculture, the member for Chifley, wrote to the minister last month about this very issue.</p><p>It is a crisis. It's another workforce crisis that the government are ignoring. They talk all the time about how there are jobs available for those that want to work. The Prime Minister said, 'If you have a go, you get a go.' If you want a job, you can get a job. We know that farmers want to give people work. We know that people want to work. Indeed, a lot of people around the country are going out to help farmers pick their produce. But the government is not doing enough and it is not taking up its proper role in this.</p><p>We know that the COVID pandemic has seen a shortage of 26,000 workers across Australian farms. We know that the government has been aware for some time that this would happen. We know that the government is aware of the structural issues in trying to get seasonal workers on farms. We know about previous issues with the underpayment of workers. We know what a difficult issue this is. But the government has had eight years to fix it. The government has had eight years to address the structural issues in this program. As I said before, the fact that the National Lost Crop Register indicates that labour shortfalls are now responsible for $42 million in crop losses is not good. How can it possibly be acceptable? Here we have fine produce—fruit, veggies, cherries, berries, all sorts of great produce—that Australian farmers have worked tirelessly to get to this point, and now they're seeing it rot. It is completely unacceptable, and this government needs to take some responsibility for that.</p><p>As I said, the government knew, prior to the pandemic, that there were structural problems with the workforce. They knew that it was overly reliant on migrant workers. They knew as soon as they closed the borders that we would have an issue and they have not done anywhere near enough about it. We've seen, in recent weeks and months, the states and territories scrambling to make up for the federal government's lack of action. That is what we are seeing today in Australia. It's clear that the federal government is constitutionally responsible, as I said, as it has been for more than 100 years. The government is responsible for our borders, it's responsible for our seasonal worker program and it's responsible for quarantine. Why is the government not doing its job? We on this side of the House say to the government: 'You need to fix this and you need to fix it quickly. This cannot go on.' It absolutely cannot go on. The government and the minister need to get serious about this and do better.</p><p>Labor has said that we'll be supporting this bill, but, clearly, there's a lot more work to be done from the government when it comes to dealing with the worker shortage. We also know that, of course, when it comes to agricultural legislation, as I've said, some of it has sat around for years. This government is very slow to act when it comes to the reforms that are necessary to ensure that we get as much produce to market as quickly as possible and support this industry in Australia. So I move as an amendment:</p><p class="italic">That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:</p><p class="italic">"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes the Coalition Government's continued failure to prioritise agriculture legislation and its inaction to address the agriculture workforce shortage."</p> <p class="speaker">Trent Zimmerman</p><p>Is the amendment seconded?</p> <p class="speaker">Mark Butler</p><p>I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.</p> <p class="speaker">Trent Zimmerman</p><p>The original question was that bill be now read a second time. To this, the honourable member for Franklin has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. If it suits the House, I'll state the question in the form that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>
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