Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Solomon Luke Gosling says he’s being contacted about visa issues by employers and workers in the NT every day

Transcript

Member for Solomon Luke Gosling says he’s being contacted about visa issues by employers and workers in the NT every day · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, Federal Parliament resumes this week and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: there's no doubt going to be plenty on the agenda.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is Labour's Member
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: for Solomon, Luke Goslin.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Luke, Morning Katie.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad? There's lots happening, Luke,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and I know that Parliament's Parliament's obviously resuming as well.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: It seems like there's a push from the Greens to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: legalize cannabis. There's also a bit happening when it comes
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to the Ikak legislation. But I might go to the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: fuel excise first, Luke, because it's something that you and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I have spoken about on a lot of occasions and
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: that cost of living. What do you think is going
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: to happen when that excise comes to an end on Wednesday?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I believe it is.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Hopefully the fuel retails around the country, respect Territorians and
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: other Australians around the country and don't go back to
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: their gouging ways. And you could even argue that it
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: hasn't really stopped. Treasury in the NT confirms that they
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: were very slow to pass on the saving when that
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: came through, and I asked the help of your listeners
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to keep an eye on your local petrol prices because
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: there's something like seven hundred million leaders of the cheaper
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: fuel still out there in the market, so there's no
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: reason for those prices to immediately go back. That's a
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: lot of fuel that was essentially a whole lot cheaper
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: for these companies, and then of course we know that
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: they've been having very very good profits for a long time.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So what I've been doing down here, Cadie, is working
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: with our ministers to see what pressure through an inquiry
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: we can put on to the fuel retailers and have
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: a look at what it looks like going forward. But
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: it is a situation where we need to get that
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: money through that exercise for our roads. We know that
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: deaths on our roads can sometimes be attributed to the
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: poor state of the roads, and we know that good
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: roads is good for the economy. So it was always
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: intended that it would be a temporary measure, and the
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: opposition or the previous government now in opposition, have said
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: that that was always their plan as well.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: So lo why exactly has the federal government decided not
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to extend the fuel exercise is that the reason because
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: they want to continue to invest money into our roads.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a big part of it, Kadium. We've also
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: been left with a trillion dollars in debt from the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: last government and that's just a matter of fact. And
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: what that means is that paying back the interests on
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: our debt is becoming massive. It's becoming almost one of
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the biggest bendit is that our federal government has and
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: we've obviously got to provide a lot of services to
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Australians and we can no longer afford to have all
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: that revenue not used to pay for the things we
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: need to pay for.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: So what do you reckon can happen? Because, like I
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: understand what you're saying. Obviously, you know, the federal government
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: can't sort of afford to give Ossie's handouts or you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to do this long term. I think we all get that.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: But what do you reckon can happen here to make
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: sure that we're not getting gouged because you and I
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: have spoken about this on a few occasions and it
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: does feel, particularly here in the Northern Territory at different times, Luke,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: like we are getting, you know, at the rough end
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: of the stick.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, absolutely, Katie. It's I mean, we really worked
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: it out, working with some people in industry, worked out
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: you know that they're probably the retail is probably earning
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: around three times more than what footable service station needs
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to be profitable, about three times that, which is obviously
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: taken the mickey and I think it's incumbent on them
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: to have a serious look at their role in helping
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: their fellow territorians with the costs of living and adjust
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: their priceises, their prices fairly. The other thing is that
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: it's very inflationary, and we've got increasing inflation at the moment,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: So it's a fine balance between getting these settings right,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: which is why the previous s federal government always only
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: saw it as well. To be honest, a pre election
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Swedener and they went asked about it on the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: They said that it was a decision for us, but
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: essentially that they understand that it always should have been
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: a temporary measure.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: So when do you reckon an inquiry could happen, Looke,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: because I know that again that's something that you'd sort
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of raised with us before. When do you reckon something
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I can inquiry could potentially.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Happening on that with my Yeah, I'm working on that
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: with my colleagues down here at the moment, and obviously
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: as soon as I can say more, I will, Katie.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: But there's a number of things that the AH Triple
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Cee have been given resources to do as well, and
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: you'll hear a bit more about that this week in
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: terms of keeping an eye out. But I reckon just
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: just your listeners are also I really appreciate their feedback too.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: If you think a local service station is checking the
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: prices up too quick, knowing that they have all this
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: cheaper fuel in reserve, are very slow to reduce the
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: price of fuel when the exercise was taken off, now
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: that it needs to come back on for all those reasons,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: they shouldn't be putting it on.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, people have been very much fired up. Yeah, they've
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: been very fired up about it. Luke, please do keep
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: us up to date with that. I want to move
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: on and just talk quickly about workforce shortage here in
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the two Ory. We know last week we spoke to
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: a couple of territory businesses who in the hospitality, in
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the hospitality industry who'd spoken to us about people being
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: deported from the Northern territory. We did ask to have
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the federal minister on about this, but I'm keen to
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: find out is this something that's been raised with you
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: at the moment.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Every day Katie. Really, I mean, out of my four
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: full time staff, I have one of them just doing
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  Speaker 2: immigration stuff, trying to help people with their visa is
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: trying to help people to stay and of recent times
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: when just before the Jobs and Skills Summit, we'll be
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: having a minister come up to give a debrief on
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: that Jobs and Skill summit the industry soon and I'll
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: let you know about that, Katie. But prior to that,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: we had a consultation with industry NGOs right across the
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  Speaker 2: board airs down at Silks. It was an excellent event
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: hosted by IAC and that was to give all the
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: feedback from industry. But there's this this common theme for
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: everyone in the industry around workforce. So we've done We've
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: done a fair bit. We've put a lot more staff
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: on in the Immigration Department to get through the huge
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: backlog of visa applications, whether that be to extend or
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: to We've got a lot of businesses, particularly in the
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: hospitality industry, that are looking to keep their experienced people
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  Speaker 2: on and one of those we talked about last week
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: that I'm having meetings about again this morning. He's only
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: got a couple of weeks in which we need to
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: get him some guidance on how to apply for visa
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  Speaker 2: that will allow him to stay. Now, this is just
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: an example of one bloke, but he's a young Bangladesh
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: fellow who's really come to love the territory. He's been
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: unfortunately involved in some horrific car accidents while he's been here,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: but he loves the place and his employer wants him
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: to stay. And that's what we're working on at the moment,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: and there's a couple of weeks yet to turn that around.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: But every day I'm getting apposed by both employe. Wow
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: and yeah. It is continuous and seems.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable because you kind of think to yourself, you know,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: we've got this workforce shortage. We know that obviously the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: jobs and skills some it had happened, and you know,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: we spoke or they spoke about, you know, about the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: cap being being lifted, I guess, or the number of
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: people able to come to Australia to work being lifted.
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  Speaker 1: And then you've got these people that are already here
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  Speaker 1: that are hard workers that have integrated into the community,
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  Speaker 1: and you just think, why are we in a situation
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: where we're looking like we're going to deport them.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Well, the answer is because when you've got a coalition
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  Speaker 2: federal government that strips the guts out of the public
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  Speaker 2: service workers that process the applications, you get left not
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  Speaker 2: only with a massive backlog where people don't know what's
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: happening with their lives, employers don't know whether they're going
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: to have stuff or not, and then putting putting staff
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: back into that system, getting them trained up to get
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: those applications moving again. And it's got to be a
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: proper process. You just can't take everyone off. You've got
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  Speaker 2: to look at their individual circumstance. You've got to look
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  Speaker 2: at whether there's been any issues with their time here.
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  Speaker 2: We want to make sure that there's people in Australia
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  Speaker 2: that are contributing. But every day we are working to
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: help reunite families in some cases, but to do what
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: we can to respond to the need in our industry
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: and our community organizations for people. We need a lot
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: more people and that's what we're working on at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: in particular for Labib who is in that difficult situation
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: of the moment, having further meetings about him today.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Labibi's obviously the gentleman from the tap. We
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: did speak about this last week. We spoke to Martin
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: from Fat Mango. We also spoke to Christian who has
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: got the Litchfield one of the Lichfield premises. And I
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: tell you what it is, something that's a concern. So
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I'm pleased to hear that you are onto it. Please
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: keep us up to date with how things progress in
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: that space, Luke, I want to ask you very quickly.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: We know that the Greens are apparently pushing to legalize
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: cannabis this week in the Federal Parliament. They say that
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: there's a constitutional basis for introducing legislation this year that
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: would allow the regulation and sale of cannabis, and will
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: announce their intention to do so in Parliament this week.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Green senator and the party's Justice spokesperson David Shuebridge has
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: apparently told the media will he said in his first
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: speech actually to Parliament that he would legalize cannabis and
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: said that experts and government inquiries kept pointing to the
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: failure of the war on drugs and how heavy handed
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: policing and the criminal justice system is causing harm not
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: fixing the problem. Loke, do you think that this has
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: got any merit?
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's obviously high up on the Greens agenda
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  Speaker 2: and I'm a big supporter of medicinal cannabis and we've
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: been working actually only couple of proposals for growing cannabis
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: for medicinal purposes in the territory over the years. But Cady,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: to be honest, I was hoping you were going to
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: ask me about the Federal Anti corruption I.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Will I'll ask you about that as sake. I'll definitely
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: get to that in ask. But yeah, on this cannabis,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: what do you reckon?
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: No go, We're going to have some discussions about that
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: this week. But I think it's a health issue and
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: the Health minister what what happens. And it's the same
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: with IKQ, the federal KAK that we're trying to legislate
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: or introduce to the Parliament this week. Cadie is on
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: a Tuesday morning we meet have our caucus meeting and
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: briefed in on the on issues like this because whenever,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: whether it's our piece of legislation or the coalition's legislation
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: or the Greens. We're given an update from the relevant
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: minister about the validity of the legislation and I always
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: welcome feedback from other members of the community and health
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: professionals about it. It is about harm minimization at the
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: end of the day, and let's see what the legislation
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: that the Greens have put forward well entails.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: We've already got messages coming through on this front and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: people saying I would implore the Greens to have a
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: look at the psychiatric administrations in the Northern Territory that
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: have resulted from smoking cannabis. So certainly lots of opinions
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: in this space and we'll get to those after.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: But Luke, we do not health issue. Yeah, that's what's
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: a health issue.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Codie, Hey, we do know that. Obviously, this National Iyekak legislation,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it's due to be introduced as I understand it, or
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: there's going to be meetings this week within the Labor
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Party before that legislation is introduced into the Federal Parliament. Luke,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: how extensive is this legislation going to go?
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be pretty broad ranging. Again, you know,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: it's something that we've had as for a long time.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: It's something we went to the campaign talking about putting
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: it into place as soon as we could. We're talking
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: with both the coalition, opposition and the cross benches about
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: it at the moment. But it's so important to get
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: back the trust or more trust in our institutions and
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: in fact our whole democracy. If we haven't got a
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: powerful national Anti corruption Commission, then that trust in our
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: institutions is just going to deteriorate further. So we'll introduce
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: it in this week and then we'll establish it in
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the next session of Parliament, and we're talking to all
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: stakeholders about the final details at the moment.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Look, some would argue here in the Northern Territory. You
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: know when you look at the Northern territories Ica that
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: it hasn't been money well speed or resources well used.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: What would you say to territory instead of wondering if
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: this national body is going to you know, to be
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: a bit of a toothless tiger or uneffective.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Well, we're absolutely committed, as in federal labor, the current
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: federal government, where absolutely one hundred percent is committed to
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: our body that doesn't take its orders from government, so
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: we will be establishing a federal eykak. It's something that
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Australians want, that's the right thing to do, but it
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: will inquire into what it believes needs to be inquired
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: into where they see potential corruption. And let's face it,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: it's most important at the federal level because that's when
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: we're talking about the most amount of revenue being spent
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: on things, and if there is corruption either within the
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: political elite, in the public service or others, then it
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: needs to be looked into because you want to have
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: people that might be thinking about doing the wrong thing,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: just thinking, hey, I don't want to be in the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: come under the National Anti Corruption Commission. So it's a
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I think it's a powerful tool. It's long overdue, it's
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: something that the Liberal and National Party's bought against. They're
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: having a bit of a change of heart now that
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: we're going to put it through and we're talking to
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: them and the Greens and the Cross benches about the
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: final details. But as you said, Katie, tomorrow we'll be
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: discussing it from our labor outside the government side, from
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: our point of view, but it's going to be strong.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: It's going to have teeth and if it's going to
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: be independent of government.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Well, Luke Gosling, the federal member for Solomon, we appreciate
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: your time this morning, particularly at short notice. Thank you
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: for having a chat with us, and we'll talk to
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: you again very soon.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Perfect timing, Katie. The bells are going. I've got to
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: get the down of the chamber.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: You're getting there. Good on you, Luke. Thank you