❓ Dr. Thomas questions the Minister for Agriculture and Food about a proposal for Bladin Village as a quarantine hub for skilled agricultural workers. The Minister responds, highlighting the federal government's constitutional responsibility and lack of cooperation.
AnsweredQoN 650Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS — SKILLED AGRICULTURAL WORKERS —BLADIN
VILLAGE, NORTHERN TERRITORY
650. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the Minister for Agriculture and
Food:
My
question is entirely without notice. I refer to the skills shortage impacting
the agricultural sector that has to manage record harvests, and the
multiple approaches to the government by very concerned stakeholders, in
particular the grains industry.
(1) Has the
minister provided the Premier with a formal proposal to submit to the Prime
Minister and national cabinet for the consideration of Bladin Village as a quarantine
hub; and, if so, when?
(2) If no to (1),
why not?
VILLAGE, NORTHERN TERRITORY
650. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the Minister for Agriculture and
Food:
My
question is entirely without notice. I refer to the skills shortage impacting
the agricultural sector that has to manage record harvests, and the
multiple approaches to the government by very concerned stakeholders, in
particular the grains industry.
(1) Has the
minister provided the Premier with a formal proposal to submit to the Prime
Minister and national cabinet for the consideration of Bladin Village as a quarantine
hub; and, if so, when?
(2) If no to (1),
why not?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I thank the member for the question and I will
start by saying, number one, read section 51 of the Constitution and the member will see that this is a federal
responsibility. We have been desperately trying to work with the federal
government to get a proposal up at Bladin Village.
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : So, you've
submitted a proposal?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : Hold on; I have certainly been speaking to the Premier about
it. The Premier has spoken to the Northern Territory minister about
this. We have been attempting to see how we might set this up, and one of the complicating factors is that the
commonwealth is apparently, we have discovered, working on getting Bladin Village set up. Some companies were saying to us that it is really
difficult to do this because the federal government has asked them to make some
submissions on this. The federal government —
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : Have you
made a submission?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : It is
really very difficult for us to set this up without the support of the
commonwealth government. What we need —
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : Have you
asked them to set it up?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : Absolutely!
We have asked over and again, ''Please, can we work together? Can you
accept your constitutional responsibility? We'll meet you halfway. We'll
work together. We'll organise the
charter flights. We will get the people there, as we do with the Seasonal
Worker Programme under which we have brought
in over 1 500, probably getting closer to 1 600, people to Western Australia.''
Minister Littleproud's response is, ''I'll sign
the visas.'' That is the end of his preparedness to work in conjunction
with us. ''I'll sign the visas; you get it all sorted.''
We need more than that.
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : So, have
you put a submission in?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : I have spoken to the Premier about it. The Premier
has spoken to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. We are not
getting any straight answers out of the federal government. It tells us to go and look at Bladin Village, and when we do, the
private providers tell us that the commonwealth is having these other discussions. We say to Littleproud, ''Can't
we work together? Can't we front-end load it? Can't we put it
on a month before you're proposing to set this up?'' It
does not want to work; it just wants to play politics on this.
start by saying, number one, read section 51 of the Constitution and the member will see that this is a federal
responsibility. We have been desperately trying to work with the federal
government to get a proposal up at Bladin Village.
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : So, you've
submitted a proposal?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : Hold on; I have certainly been speaking to the Premier about
it. The Premier has spoken to the Northern Territory minister about
this. We have been attempting to see how we might set this up, and one of the complicating factors is that the
commonwealth is apparently, we have discovered, working on getting Bladin Village set up. Some companies were saying to us that it is really
difficult to do this because the federal government has asked them to make some
submissions on this. The federal government —
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : Have you
made a submission?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : It is
really very difficult for us to set this up without the support of the
commonwealth government. What we need —
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : Have you
asked them to set it up?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : Absolutely!
We have asked over and again, ''Please, can we work together? Can you
accept your constitutional responsibility? We'll meet you halfway. We'll
work together. We'll organise the
charter flights. We will get the people there, as we do with the Seasonal
Worker Programme under which we have brought
in over 1 500, probably getting closer to 1 600, people to Western Australia.''
Minister Littleproud's response is, ''I'll sign
the visas.'' That is the end of his preparedness to work in conjunction
with us. ''I'll sign the visas; you get it all sorted.''
We need more than that.
Hon Dr Steve Thomas : So, have
you put a submission in?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN : I have spoken to the Premier about it. The Premier
has spoken to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. We are not
getting any straight answers out of the federal government. It tells us to go and look at Bladin Village, and when we do, the
private providers tell us that the commonwealth is having these other discussions. We say to Littleproud, ''Can't
we work together? Can't we front-end load it? Can't we put it
on a month before you're proposing to set this up?'' It
does not want to work; it just wants to play politics on this.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.