Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

What we all knew, but of course Senator Cash did not, is that it is a condition of the 457 program that such visas are only issued to people who have a job. So it is not surprising that they have a low unemployment rate. But what is more disturbing about the false premise of the senator's question is that she seems to be suggesting that Australian workers are somehow less valuable than temporary overseas workers, and that is an appalling, disgraceful line of argument to be presented in this place. No wonder the Leader of the Opposition, her leader, says that 457 visas will be the mainstay of a future coalition government's immigration program.

Opposition senators interjecting—