Foreign workers could be allowed to live permanently in Australia if Labor wins the upcoming election, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has hinted.
Mr Albanese told the National Farmers' Federation conference in Canberra that offering permanent residency would make "an enormous difference" to Australia's ability to attract overseas workers.
"If you have people who are coming here temporarily, year after year, spending month after month here, why don't we give them a bit of certainty and actually allow people to stay who are making a contribution to the country?" he said.
But days before the federal election is expected to be called, the Opposition Leader again refused to say if a Labor government would scrap Australia's new agriculture visa.
The visa was a commitment won by the Nationals on the sidelines of the UK free trade deal last year, but no foreign workers have arrived in Australia under the scheme.
Australia last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam about that country's participation in the agriculture visa scheme, but it is not clear when the first workers will arrive.
"At the moment there's an ag visa, if no-one comes, guess what … it doesn't exist, it's not real at the moment," Mr Albanese said.
He said Labor wanted to help attract more workers to the sector.
When the agriculture visa was announced last year, the government said it would "consider permanent residency pathways and regional settlement" in the first three years of the visa's implementation.
Speaking after Mr Albanese's address, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said Labor had failed to back the visa.
"A Labor government would rip to shreds Australia's credibility on the world stage, as no-one would be able to trust our word," Mr Littleproud said.
"And in doing so, they would run a wrecking ball through agriculture by failing to secure a long-term reliable workforce for the agricultural industry."
Earlier this year, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official Ewen McDonald told a Senate estimates hearing that more work needed to be done on creating a pathway to permanent residency with the visa.
"We're just trying to finalise the first of the bilateral arrangements firstly, so I think that will involve further consultation and design work," Mr McDonald told the hearing.
