Speeches
Labor’s Amnesty for Illegal Workers
I refer to the minister calling for an amnesty on illegal workers as reported on the ABC on 2 October 2020 in an article entitled “WA Agriculture Minister calls for national illegal worker amnesty to ease farm labour shortage”. (1) Does the minister concede that she is rewarding criminal behaviour? (2) Why is she prioritising illegal workers over Western Australian citizens? (3) Does the minister concede that there is no such thing as a shortage of labour; there is only a shortage of labour at the price or wages that firms are generally willing to pay? (4) Does the minister concede that if farms lifted wages and provided training, the so-called shortage of fruit pickers and other workers would vanish?