00:00:00
Speaker 1: Now, one of the issues that we have been speaking about for quite some time is the situation with our working holiday visas and some of the concerns around changes that are coming into place with the reduction of people being able to come and work and the amount of time that they can spend here and the impact that that is going to have on places like regional Australia. The latest in this space is that the Prime Minister is due to sit down with the UK Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, And he is seeking a tightening of the rules for British backpackers coming to Australia when he meets his UK counterpart this week at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. Now, Anthony Albanese, as we understand, is going to seek to reverse part of the UK free trade agreement that exempts British backpackers from regional and rural work. Now, joining us on the show to talk a little bit more about this is Luke Gosling, the federal member for Solomon. Good morning, Luke.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: G'day, Katie.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: Now, Luke, tell me, what exactly is Anthony Albanese hoping to achieve with this meeting with the UK Prime Minister around British backpackers coming to Australia?
00:01:15
Speaker 3: Well, what we want to do is make a change that has UK nationals needing to do the same as other working holidaymakers, whether they be Irish or Italian or from South America, from those lists of specified countries, so that they have to do work in certain industries and locations in their first visa in order to get a second visa. And that's going to be good for regional Australia if the Brits agree to it. It's not ideal to be amending a free trade agreement, but both myself and Marion, but also we've got a guy over in Cairns, Maddy Smith, who's got, you know, he's got same issues in his community where we are very dependent on working holidaymakers, particularly in hospitality and we've been talking a lot to hospitality NT but also to NT farmers and the tourism industry and we know how important it is. So in Canberra last week we were again talking to Tony Burke about the issue and really glad that the Prime Minister is going to raise it with the UK Prime Minister.
00:02:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know we've spoken to hospitality NT, we've had tourism operators, we've had a whole raft of people on the show over the last month or so concerned about the changes and those planned cuts to the backpacker visas. you know, saying that it does risk damaging our hard-built reputation as one of the great destinations for working holidaymakers. But also, you know, we're so highly reliant on that workforce surge. Luke, I know, as you touched on there, Cairns also really worried about it at the moment. Do you think that we're going to see a change here? Because it does feel like our regional Australian politicians are pushing for this, but sometimes... you know, what ends up happening is it doesn't sort of come to fruition for the regions, despite it being a common sense sort of approach. I get the concerns that those in capital cities have got, but do you think we're actually going to get some common sense here?
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Yes, I do.
00:03:24
Speaker 3: What this has been is an opportunity for us to very forcefully put to our colleagues in Canberra. We've been doing that. Marion Scrimgeour and I had face-to-face meetings with Tony Burke But also we've had conversations with other senior members like the Minister for Agriculture and others just to– and she gets it. She's from Tassie, Julie Collins. So she understands that regional Australia needs working holidaymakers. Mango farmers sometimes don't find them as dependable as, say, the palm scheme is. workers, but at the same time, they played a really important role. And the good thing is that a lot of them stay. So just the other day before going down to Canberra, got my hair cut and it was an Irish fella who had stayed and put down roots. I went to Amity to celebrate their 50 years and there's councillors there that are helping Territorians with alcohol and other drug dependencies that came here as working.
00:04:23
Speaker 2: Holidaymakers, put down roots, started a family.
00:04:27
Speaker 3: And it just goes to show, like, pretty much a week won't go by where any Territorian, particularly here in Darwin and Palmerston, but elsewhere in our regional capitals, will have something to do with either a working holidaymaker or someone who started as a working holidaymaker.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: And became a Territorian.
00:04:46
Speaker 3: So we're really hopeful that something will come out of the Prime Minister's talks with the Brits so that we hear some more British accents in the pubs and the clubs. But also there's so many other areas where they can make a difference, backpackers, and they do love coming to the Territory. It's an experience of a lifetime for them and as many of them as possible will stay.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: When do you reckon we'll know? When do you think we'll know if this is going to happen, if we're going to get this change across the line and give that certainty to industry?
00:05:21
Speaker 3: Well, we're talking with Tony Burke again this week.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: Later on today, NT Farmers.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: Will be having a hook-up with his office, but NT Hospitality and NT Tourism Top End and Tourism Central Australia already have had their hook-up. The Minister's Office is very clear about our need that there's stronger regional settings for the working holidaymakers, and I'm confident that that's going to occur. When it's going to be announced, I'm not sure, but the Prime Minister is at Chogham, so by the end of Chogham, hopefully there is, and I'm hopeful that there will be an announcement from him as a result of his conversation with the UK PN.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: Well, I hope it's the way we all want it to go. Hey, Luke, before I let you go, and I understand you may be limited in what you can say to me on this topic, but I do note that there's a story on News 24 this morning by Matt Cunningham that the Northern Territory Administrator, David Connolly, and his wife wrongly accused you of breaching your bail conditions in what appears to be a case of mistaken identity. That's what court documents have alleged. The documents which have been seen by News 24 show that Mr Connolly's wife, Sue Brosnan, sent police photographs of a man at the Boatshed Cafe in the inner Darwin suburb of Cullen Bay on September 1, who they claimed was you. But your lawyers say that you were never in Cullen Bay on that morning. Luke, can I ask you, were you at the Boatshed on September 1?
00:07:00
Speaker 3: Thanks for prefacing it about I'm a bit limited is what I can say, but I can say that I wasn't.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: At the Boat Shed Cafe on that morning.
00:07:14
Speaker 3: I was actually dropping my kids off to school. But can I just say that I haven't stopped doing my job at all, but unfortunately the bail conditions at times meant that I can't get to events if people don't invite me well in advance because it's a requirement for me to– To give notice. So short term, sorry, when there's just a short lead time for invitations, I just wanted to use this time with you just to apologise to those organisations. I haven't been able to come to their events or their graduation or what have you. And I'm really hoping that those bail conditions perhaps can change.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: Because I You need to be able to do your job.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: I need to be able to do my job as the elected representative for the.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: People of Darwin and Palmerston.
00:08:08
Speaker 3: I've been doing that down in Canberra and I've been doing that here. I just look forward to this all being behind us.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: There are more court dates.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: To come and it's my hope that this can be put to bed at that time.
00:08:25
Speaker 1: Luke, can I ask you, and I know you'll fob me off if needed, but can I ask you, I mean, that breach of bail charge, it was dropped by prosecutors, but we also know that you lost your role as the Special Envoy for Defence and for Northern Australia after that breach of bail charge was laid. I mean, would you like to pick up those special envoy roles again?
00:08:51
Speaker 2: That's a matter for the PM, but I would have thought that he would wait until the conclusion of these matters at the end of November and perhaps start the fresh year with new responsibilities, Katie. But that's a matter for the PM to do at a time of, is choosing. It is unfortunate that I had to stand down from.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: That role, but I guess my message for your listeners is that it has.
00:09:26
Speaker 2: Meant that I've had more time.
00:09:29
Speaker 3: To be around Darwin and Palmerston and fight for the things that we need and less travel interstate with the special envoy responsibilities. But it's always a balance when you're in roles like an assistant minister role or a ministerial role. For example, Malindari McCarthy, you know, is a minister, so she's got interstate responsibilities. But for me and Marion, it is just 100% making sure that we've got the ear of the ministers and this working holiday maker issue is a good example. But if it's getting more funding for aged care, which we're doing, more funding for our hospitals, which we've done, It's a never-ending process. Our schools are getting older and we're going to need to have some infrastructure funding for those. We want to work with the NT government to get more of the billions of dollars of federal funding out onto the ground for our workers and for our businesses, but that's something we continue to work on.
00:10:45
Speaker 1: Well, Luke Gosling, good to speak with you this morning. And please keep me up to date as to what happens with that meeting between the UK Prime Minister and the Australian Prime Minister, because I know that we are all hoping that some common sense can prevail for regional Australia.
00:11:00
Speaker 3: We love our backpackers, Katie, and we'll keep fighting to make sure that we don't see a drop in them.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: Good stuff.
00:11:05
Speaker 1: Thanks, Luke. Appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Now, one of the issues that we have been speaking about for quite some time is the situation with our working holiday visas and some of the concerns around changes that are coming into place with the reduction of people being able to come and work and the amount of time that they can spend here and the impact that that is going to have on places like regional Australia. The latest in this space is that the Prime Minister is due to sit down with the UK Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, And he is seeking a tightening of the rules for British backpackers coming to Australia when he meets his UK counterpart this week at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. Now, Anthony Albanese, as we understand, is going to seek to reverse part of the UK free trade agreement that exempts British backpackers from regional and rural work. Now, joining us on the show to talk a little bit more about this is Luke Gosling, the federal member for Solomon. Good morning, Luke.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: G'day, Katie.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: Now, Luke, tell me, what exactly is Anthony Albanese hoping to achieve with this meeting with the UK Prime Minister around British backpackers coming to Australia?
00:01:15
Speaker 3: Well, what we want to do is make a change that has UK nationals needing to do the same as other working holidaymakers, whether they be Irish or Italian or from South America, from those lists of specified countries, so that they have to do work in certain industries and locations in their first visa in order to get a second visa. And that's going to be good for regional Australia if the Brits agree to it. It's not ideal to be amending a free trade agreement, but both myself and Marion, but also we've got a guy over in Cairns, Maddy Smith, who's got, you know, he's got same issues in his community where we are very dependent on working holidaymakers, particularly in hospitality and we've been talking a lot to hospitality NT but also to NT farmers and the tourism industry and we know how important it is. So in Canberra last week we were again talking to Tony Burke about the issue and really glad that the Prime Minister is going to raise it with the UK Prime Minister.
00:02:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know we've spoken to hospitality NT, we've had tourism operators, we've had a whole raft of people on the show over the last month or so concerned about the changes and those planned cuts to the backpacker visas. you know, saying that it does risk damaging our hard-built reputation as one of the great destinations for working holidaymakers. But also, you know, we're so highly reliant on that workforce surge. Luke, I know, as you touched on there, Cairns also really worried about it at the moment. Do you think that we're going to see a change here? Because it does feel like our regional Australian politicians are pushing for this, but sometimes... you know, what ends up happening is it doesn't sort of come to fruition for the regions, despite it being a common sense sort of approach. I get the concerns that those in capital cities have got, but do you think we're actually going to get some common sense here?
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Yes, I do.
00:03:24
Speaker 3: What this has been is an opportunity for us to very forcefully put to our colleagues in Canberra. We've been doing that. Marion Scrimgeour and I had face-to-face meetings with Tony Burke But also we've had conversations with other senior members like the Minister for Agriculture and others just to– and she gets it. She's from Tassie, Julie Collins. So she understands that regional Australia needs working holidaymakers. Mango farmers sometimes don't find them as dependable as, say, the palm scheme is. workers, but at the same time, they played a really important role. And the good thing is that a lot of them stay. So just the other day before going down to Canberra, got my hair cut and it was an Irish fella who had stayed and put down roots. I went to Amity to celebrate their 50 years and there's councillors there that are helping Territorians with alcohol and other drug dependencies that came here as working.
00:04:23
Speaker 2: Holidaymakers, put down roots, started a family.
00:04:27
Speaker 3: And it just goes to show, like, pretty much a week won't go by where any Territorian, particularly here in Darwin and Palmerston, but elsewhere in our regional capitals, will have something to do with either a working holidaymaker or someone who started as a working holidaymaker.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: And became a Territorian.
00:04:46
Speaker 3: So we're really hopeful that something will come out of the Prime Minister's talks with the Brits so that we hear some more British accents in the pubs and the clubs. But also there's so many other areas where they can make a difference, backpackers, and they do love coming to the Territory. It's an experience of a lifetime for them and as many of them as possible will stay.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: When do you reckon we'll know? When do you think we'll know if this is going to happen, if we're going to get this change across the line and give that certainty to industry?
00:05:21
Speaker 3: Well, we're talking with Tony Burke again this week.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: Later on today, NT Farmers.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: Will be having a hook-up with his office, but NT Hospitality and NT Tourism Top End and Tourism Central Australia already have had their hook-up. The Minister's Office is very clear about our need that there's stronger regional settings for the working holidaymakers, and I'm confident that that's going to occur. When it's going to be announced, I'm not sure, but the Prime Minister is at Chogham, so by the end of Chogham, hopefully there is, and I'm hopeful that there will be an announcement from him as a result of his conversation with the UK PN.
00:06:09
Speaker 1: Well, I hope it's the way we all want it to go. Hey, Luke, before I let you go, and I understand you may be limited in what you can say to me on this topic, but I do note that there's a story on News 24 this morning by Matt Cunningham that the Northern Territory Administrator, David Connolly, and his wife wrongly accused you of breaching your bail conditions in what appears to be a case of mistaken identity. That's what court documents have alleged. The documents which have been seen by News 24 show that Mr Connolly's wife, Sue Brosnan, sent police photographs of a man at the Boatshed Cafe in the inner Darwin suburb of Cullen Bay on September 1, who they claimed was you. But your lawyers say that you were never in Cullen Bay on that morning. Luke, can I ask you, were you at the Boatshed on September 1?
00:07:00
Speaker 3: Thanks for prefacing it about I'm a bit limited is what I can say, but I can say that I wasn't.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: At the Boat Shed Cafe on that morning.
00:07:14
Speaker 3: I was actually dropping my kids off to school. But can I just say that I haven't stopped doing my job at all, but unfortunately the bail conditions at times meant that I can't get to events if people don't invite me well in advance because it's a requirement for me to– To give notice. So short term, sorry, when there's just a short lead time for invitations, I just wanted to use this time with you just to apologise to those organisations. I haven't been able to come to their events or their graduation or what have you. And I'm really hoping that those bail conditions perhaps can change.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: Because I You need to be able to do your job.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: I need to be able to do my job as the elected representative for the.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: People of Darwin and Palmerston.
00:08:08
Speaker 3: I've been doing that down in Canberra and I've been doing that here. I just look forward to this all being behind us.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: There are more court dates.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: To come and it's my hope that this can be put to bed at that time.
00:08:25
Speaker 1: Luke, can I ask you, and I know you'll fob me off if needed, but can I ask you, I mean, that breach of bail charge, it was dropped by prosecutors, but we also know that you lost your role as the Special Envoy for Defence and for Northern Australia after that breach of bail charge was laid. I mean, would you like to pick up those special envoy roles again?
00:08:51
Speaker 2: That's a matter for the PM, but I would have thought that he would wait until the conclusion of these matters at the end of November and perhaps start the fresh year with new responsibilities, Katie. But that's a matter for the PM to do at a time of, is choosing. It is unfortunate that I had to stand down from.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: That role, but I guess my message for your listeners is that it has.
00:09:26
Speaker 2: Meant that I've had more time.
00:09:29
Speaker 3: To be around Darwin and Palmerston and fight for the things that we need and less travel interstate with the special envoy responsibilities. But it's always a balance when you're in roles like an assistant minister role or a ministerial role. For example, Malindari McCarthy, you know, is a minister, so she's got interstate responsibilities. But for me and Marion, it is just 100% making sure that we've got the ear of the ministers and this working holiday maker issue is a good example. But if it's getting more funding for aged care, which we're doing, more funding for our hospitals, which we've done, It's a never-ending process. Our schools are getting older and we're going to need to have some infrastructure funding for those. We want to work with the NT government to get more of the billions of dollars of federal funding out onto the ground for our workers and for our businesses, but that's something we continue to work on.
00:10:45
Speaker 1: Well, Luke Gosling, good to speak with you this morning. And please keep me up to date as to what happens with that meeting between the UK Prime Minister and the Australian Prime Minister, because I know that we are all hoping that some common sense can prevail for regional Australia.
00:11:00
Speaker 3: We love our backpackers, Katie, and we'll keep fighting to make sure that we don't see a drop in them.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: Good stuff.
00:11:05
Speaker 1: Thanks, Luke. Appreciate your time.
