Townsville’s Migration Agreement, a plan to undermine local workers’ pay and conditions

April 4, 2022

KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, and Herbert KAP Candidate, Clynton Hawks, are questioning whether a newly announced Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) for the Townsville region[1] is a plan to undermine local workers’ pay and conditions.


Under the LNP Government’s plan, skilled migrants will be brought in to work in 195 different occupations in nine Local Government Areas including Townsville, Hinchinbrook, Charters Towers, Burdekin, Mount Isa, Cloncurry, McKinlay, Richmond and Flinders.[2]


Bob Katter said he had serious concerns that it was a plan to undermine the pay and conditions of North Queenslanders and wanted to know where the skilled migrants would be coming from.

“We want people coming to Australia who will harmoniously fit in. We do not want people from countries with no democracy, and/or no rule of law, and/or no Judeo-Christian values i.e. 'love your neighbour, make the world a better place’ (we may not go to church on Sundays, but we most certainly are brought up in the Christian traditions), no industrial awards, and no egalitarian traditions.” Mr Katter said.


“The labour hire companies will be licking their lips. Our wages in the mines have been cut down from nearly $200,000 a year, to close to $100,000 a year. This will further undermine miners pay and conditions. I can’t help but think this is a deal for the Government to help their rich cronies.”


Mr Katter said the LNP has done very little to tackle the problem of the 15 percent of the population sitting on their backsides at home watching TV (unemployed and underemployed) while others were working.[3]


“There are a lot of legitimate owner-operator businesses out there looking for workers, but Australia has a lot of people sitting on their backside who could be working,” he said.


“We have able people on welfare or studying multiple university courses with no plan to get a job, or on disability payments. There are a lot of legitimate people on disability payments but there are those who aren’t.


“We also need to turnaround the kids sitting in youth detention centres who deserve a fair go. When I grew up in Cloncurry, First Australians dominated the jobs in railways, council jobs and cattle stations. It is unfair that these people have been reduced to living in detention and not having opportunity. The KAP has been advocating for relocation sentencing to train wayward youth in skills and trades for years, but the major parties have done nothing.”


KAP Candidate for Herbert, Clynton Hawks, is concerned about the impact the DAMA will have on the region’s house prices and supply of housing.


Hawks is calling for the immediate ban on foreign nationals buying houses in Australia, and for the Federal Parliament to legislate that only Australian citizens can buy residential properties.


“Nations like Singapore spend $10 billion a year on Aussie property and flood our housing market and that is just the start[4],” he said.


“In most countries, I cannot go over there and purchase large swarths of property - I can only lease. We are leaving struggling Australians behind by allowing foreign nationals to flood our housing market.


“I am attributing the 26 percent increase in regional house prices to foreigners coming in and swarming the market.[5] We currently have a rental crisis so we can’t get into one of them and we can’t look at buying a place of our own due to getting priced out of our own market.


“The Foreign Investment Review Board is a joke and should hang its head in shame for the utter and complete sell out of our once proud country. We have been stripped root and stem to the foreigner with the biggest cheque book.


“Last week we saw the ALP come out with their regional first home buyers’ scheme, but they wouldn’t need that if we stopped foreign ownership and get back to Australia First.


“Our country has been sold out from underneath us for far too long and if elected I will put a stop to it. We need to take back control of our own country. It is time to put Aussies first and get struggling Aussies into their own home sooner.”


-ENDS-


[1] https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/regional-migration/dama

[2] https://www.philthompson.com.au/media-release-townsvilles-economic-prosperity-bolstered-by-signing-of-designated-area-migration-

[3] http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll/unemployment/underemployment-estimates?fbclid=IwAR026FTOQNQb21UZqIpwiVYmoRpT62Hrptz2OKOrjg1oGsVzx-M0ObHorsE

[4] https://www.thechainsaw.com/singapore-foreign-investment-australia-property-china

[5] https://www.thechainsaw.com/regional-house-price-growth-australia#:~:text=News-,Regional%20house%20prices%20soared%20more%20than%2026%25%20in%20just%2012,concerns%20about%20long%2Dterm%20impacts&text=The%20median%20property%20value%20across,city%20growth%20rate%20in%202021.



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