THE Coalition has accused Julia Gillard of preferring migrants who arrive "illegally on boats and go on to welfare" to skilled workers who arrive the "right way", get jobs and pay taxes.
In the wake of the Prime Minister's announcement of a crackdown on 457 temporary working visas, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the move showed Ms Gillard and Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor didn't understand the importance of skilled migration.
Ms Gillard and government ministers fired back, accusing the opposition of creating fear and demonising asylum-seekers after Mr Morrison suggested boat arrivals who were released into the community should face new "behaviour protocols" and neighbours should be warned that they were living next door. He announced the proposed new protocols after the indecent assault of a student in her dormitory at Macquarie University in Sydney, allegedly by an asylum-seeker.
While the row over immigration, foreign workers and asylum-seekers became increasingly bitter and shrill yesterday, the chefs at Gogo's Madras Curry House in Perth, several of whom are on 457 visas, didn't have time to tune in to the political drama.
"I don't pay a lot of attention to the politicians on the news because I am, like everyone, busy working and looking after my kids," said Indian-born Bhoj Raj Khatri, now a permanent resident.
Gogo's owner Gogo Govardhan has employed seven chefs on 457 visas over the past 10 years or so because the mining boom reduced the pool of labour available for the hospitality industry, particularly in the West Australian capital.
"Nobody was here: people just graduated from school and they were earning $80,000 a year in mining so why would they want to work for $18 an hour in hospitality," Mr Govardhan said.
"This is still the reality. I challenge anyone to advertise for a chef or other hospitality and you will wait months for a response from someone qualified."
His India-trained chefs are often flown to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to cook for the Australian cricket team during home games against India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke is a fan of Gogo's chef Shekar Thangaraj's pepper chicken chetinaad.
"I do feel welcome in Australia," Mr Tangaraj said yesterday.
He is in Australia on a 457 visa but hopes to make a life here with his wife and two primary school-aged children. Mr Tangaraj said he never felt he was taking someone else's job. "My boss says he needs me," he said.
Mr Govardhan has 15 staff but needs more after losing two chefs to catering companies that service the resource sector.
He said the chefs he hired from India had a very good work ethic.
Mr Morrison yesterday continued to attack the government's crackdown on temporary work visas, which Ms Gillard described as putting "foreign workers last".
At a conference in Melbourne yesterday, he said: "The Prime Minister is saying, through her attacks on 457s, that skilled migrants who come the right way, who have something to bring to Australia, who get jobs and pay taxes are not the migrants she is looking for. Through her government's continued failures on our borders, she prefers those who arrive illegally on boats and go on to welfare. The budget blowout on Labor's border failures on immigration alone since the last election is more than $5 billion."
Mr Morrison's attack came as Coalition frontbenchers appeared to retreat from the immigration spokesman's earlier remarks about asylum-seekers and refused to endorse his idea of "protocols" to be implemented for those living in the community.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott also called on the government to produce evidence the 457 regime was not working properly, warning against hitting employers with further red tape.
Ms Gillard said there was "community concern" about the level of 457 visas and Mr O'Connor said there was evidence of rorting but his department could not act on it.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said last night the union movement was not opposed to skilled migration but "we prefer migration services to be done on a permanent basis". He told ABC's Lateline that, at the same time there had been a surge in 457 visas issued, 30,000 people had registered on the government's national jobs board, seeking to work in the resources sector.
The job of Ms Gillard's own Scottish communications director, John McTernan, who is on a 457 visa, even became an issue after opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey queried whether there was an Australian who could do the job of adviser to the Australian prime minister. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "We do not comment on individual members of staff."
In the wake of the Prime Minister's announcement of a crackdown on 457 temporary working visas, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the move showed Ms Gillard and Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor didn't understand the importance of skilled migration.
Ms Gillard and government ministers fired back, accusing the opposition of creating fear and demonising asylum-seekers after Mr Morrison suggested boat arrivals who were released into the community should face new "behaviour protocols" and neighbours should be warned that they were living next door. He announced the proposed new protocols after the indecent assault of a student in her dormitory at Macquarie University in Sydney, allegedly by an asylum-seeker.
While the row over immigration, foreign workers and asylum-seekers became increasingly bitter and shrill yesterday, the chefs at Gogo's Madras Curry House in Perth, several of whom are on 457 visas, didn't have time to tune in to the political drama.
"I don't pay a lot of attention to the politicians on the news because I am, like everyone, busy working and looking after my kids," said Indian-born Bhoj Raj Khatri, now a permanent resident.
Gogo's owner Gogo Govardhan has employed seven chefs on 457 visas over the past 10 years or so because the mining boom reduced the pool of labour available for the hospitality industry, particularly in the West Australian capital.
"Nobody was here: people just graduated from school and they were earning $80,000 a year in mining so why would they want to work for $18 an hour in hospitality," Mr Govardhan said.
"This is still the reality. I challenge anyone to advertise for a chef or other hospitality and you will wait months for a response from someone qualified."
His India-trained chefs are often flown to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to cook for the Australian cricket team during home games against India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke is a fan of Gogo's chef Shekar Thangaraj's pepper chicken chetinaad.
"I do feel welcome in Australia," Mr Tangaraj said yesterday.
He is in Australia on a 457 visa but hopes to make a life here with his wife and two primary school-aged children. Mr Tangaraj said he never felt he was taking someone else's job. "My boss says he needs me," he said.
Mr Govardhan has 15 staff but needs more after losing two chefs to catering companies that service the resource sector.
He said the chefs he hired from India had a very good work ethic.
Mr Morrison yesterday continued to attack the government's crackdown on temporary work visas, which Ms Gillard described as putting "foreign workers last".
At a conference in Melbourne yesterday, he said: "The Prime Minister is saying, through her attacks on 457s, that skilled migrants who come the right way, who have something to bring to Australia, who get jobs and pay taxes are not the migrants she is looking for. Through her government's continued failures on our borders, she prefers those who arrive illegally on boats and go on to welfare. The budget blowout on Labor's border failures on immigration alone since the last election is more than $5 billion."
Mr Morrison's attack came as Coalition frontbenchers appeared to retreat from the immigration spokesman's earlier remarks about asylum-seekers and refused to endorse his idea of "protocols" to be implemented for those living in the community.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott also called on the government to produce evidence the 457 regime was not working properly, warning against hitting employers with further red tape.
Ms Gillard said there was "community concern" about the level of 457 visas and Mr O'Connor said there was evidence of rorting but his department could not act on it.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said last night the union movement was not opposed to skilled migration but "we prefer migration services to be done on a permanent basis". He told ABC's Lateline that, at the same time there had been a surge in 457 visas issued, 30,000 people had registered on the government's national jobs board, seeking to work in the resources sector.
The job of Ms Gillard's own Scottish communications director, John McTernan, who is on a 457 visa, even became an issue after opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey queried whether there was an Australian who could do the job of adviser to the Australian prime minister. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "We do not comment on individual members of staff."
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