Samantha Maiden: Visa posturing gives no credit to Shorten

BILL Shorten slammed the government’s “desperate” lifetime visa ban for asylum seekers this week before walking straight into the House of Representatives to get stuck into foreign workers taking Aussie jobs.

Don’t expect Mr Shorten to hang on to his principled stand for long.

OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten slammed the government’s “desperate” lifetime visa ban for asylum seekers this week before walking straight into the House of Representatives to get stuck into foreign workers taking Aussie jobs.

When it comes to using people with different skin colour as a political prop, white folk in the Labor Party attacking economic migrants — not refugees — is the new black.

You say refugees? Labor says compassion. But hey, would you like fries, an award wage and a cup of “how-foreigners-on-457-visas-are-stealing-our-hopes-and-dreams with that”?

Shorten is actually prepared to say it out loud. Labor will not lose the votes of blue-collar blokes like Hillary Clinton did. It’s about politics.

It works. Because Labor’s political research tells it so. If you build the 457 visa debate, you are simply reinforcing what voters already believe. This is reinforcement theory. It is the golden rule of a political scare campaign.

You would think unions would see it as a recruitment opportunity to sign up these vulnerable, migrant workers instead of locking the door on them but maybe not.

“We want Malcolm Turnbull to focus on prioritising Australian jobs to deal with the real issues, not to play political games, chasing One Nation’s policies by proposing ludicrous and ridiculous ideas,’’ Mr Shorten says.

Is he kidding? Attacking 457 visas is One Nation’s policy platform. The political motives behind Labor’s approach are about as transparent as Kim Kardashian’s dresses.

Labor’s principled stand against the darker forces unleashed by One Nation is gaffer-taped together with a good, old-fashioned, attack on migrant workers. The 457 visa debate is just the political bleach to clean up all that dangerous compassion on refugees.

The alternative narrative of smart migrants living a life of poverty who want to build a better future working here? The disconnect between the thousands of unemployed Australians but also the jobs that employers just can’t fill? Goodness, we can’t have that.

Close our borders. We will decide the foreign workers and the award rates under which they come.

It’s just smart politics, you see, because you frame it up as about the big, bad employers who bring these people in to do the work that Australians don’t want. Foreigners, who knows, they can barely speak English and might not be making informed decisions, right? It’s better for them if we decide.

Today Mr Shorten will ­double down on his attempts to frame Labor’s position at the Victorian Labor Party ­conference. “Instead of cutting desperate deals to try and save his own job — Malcolm Turnbull should be focused on Australian jobs,’’ Mr Shorten says.

They need to bring more smarts, strategy and seniority to the job as fast as possible

“On Malcolm Turnbull’s watch, employers are using and abusing 457 visas to bring in cheap labour. Manipulating visa work rights to import and exploit overseas workers. Rogue companies are ripping off guest workers, so they can avoid paying Australian wages.’’

In some cases, they are. But not across the board. Not every time. It’s just a political fix.

The Greens are into it too, because they are getting donations from the unions who fear that 457 visas and foreign workers are driving down wages, conditions and union power. You would think unions would see it as a recruitment opportunity to sign up these vulnerable, migrant workers instead of locking the door on them but maybe not.

While they’re at it, they should have another think about whether Queensland’s Shayne Neumann is the best man on the ground to lead Labor’s strategy on refugees.

The Labor Party seems to have decided that nobody more important wants that God-awful portfolio and the boats have stopped anyway so everyone can relax. This is a mistake. They need to bring more smarts, strategy and seniority to the job as fast as possible and if Neumann is still in that portfolio by the next election it will be a great big surprise.

Manus, where men have been bashed to death, and Nauru, where children under our care have accused fellow detainees of raping them, will be mothballed.

Listen closely and you will note that Mr Shorten kept the left wing of the Labor Party happy by unloading on the refugee tourist visa ban, but also left the door wide open to changing his mind. Don’t expect Mr Shorten to hang on to his principled stand for long.

The Prime Minister’s announcement that Australia will enter into a deal to resettle the refugees, the vast majority of whom arrived under Labor, will shift the politics again. Malcolm Turnbull wanted to get kids out of detention on the mainland. Now he’s going to shut down Australia’s offshore processing regimen.

Manus, where men have been bashed to death and scores injured in bloody riots, will be mothballed.

Are you starting to wonder if those who attack Malcolm Turnbull stance on refugees might need to wise up about what he’s actually doing here not simply what he says when he opens his mouth?